DISCIPLINARY CASES

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

DUNDEE HURRICANES

Confirmation of league action against Dundee Hurricanes:

The BAFL Appeal Board on 22nd July 2006 made the following decisions regarding Dundee Hurricanes personnel. Mark Smith was found guilty of misconduct and suspended for the remainder of the regular season, followed by a 12-month period on probation. (He also has a 1 match suspension because he was ejected during the game - the appeal for that was not upheld.) Alan Johnston was cleared of misconduct. Charlie Campbell was found guilty of misconduct and placed on probation for 12 months. The appeal against the ejection and 1 match suspension of Sebastien Ossywa was not upheld.

My earlier statement on the matter did not include the names of those involved. As Newsflash is a de facto record of disciplinary action within BAFA, it should have. Apologies for any confusion or inconvenience.

Jim Briggs
president@bafra.org

SURGE V MUSTANGS 5TH AUG

3-man crew (A Binns, C Gibson & B Bradley) only. Teams were advised and played with understanding of our plight in the crew's ability in covering all areas. A big 'thank-you' should go out to the Home Management and both coaches for their support in what was a hard-fought end of season battle only decided by a late interception, ultimately resulting in a TD by the Mustangs.

Thank you,

Andrew Binns #575

SUSSEX THUNDERS

Sussex is no longer a prepayment team, so if they are at home in the playoffs the crew must get paid on the day.

Charlie Dean-Young
finance@bafra.org

MARITAL MIKE

I'm sure you'll all join me in congratulating Mike Cavanagh and his new wife Steph, who were married on Saturday 19th Aug.

Tony Newsham #302

BAFRA GOLF DAY

Also after last weeks golf day, a grudging well done to C D Y after he took the field apart. He destroyed the field with his Tiger-like presence.

Tony Newsham #302

AN UMPIRE'S LOT

During the 1st Quarter of the game between Gateshead and Birmingham, Umpire, Ian Sneddon, was injured when he was accidentally hit by a Birmingham player during a running play through the middle of the line. The Ambulance crew attended to Ian on the field and after a few minutes decided he should be taken to hospital for further examination. Another Ambulance was subsequently called to the ground for this purpose.

On arrival at the Hospital Ian was examined and advised he had probably damaged some ligaments in his back or shoulder and had quite a few bumps and bruises. He was given medication and released. He will probably be out of action for the rest of the season, play-off games and Bowl weekend.

I'm sure you will all join me in wishing Ian a speedy recovery.

Davie Parsons
training@bafra.org

BUZZING BEES

After inadvertent whistles and kicks into the end zone not being immediately blown dead I'm getting another bee in my bonnet. Concentration and focus. I can have a laugh with the best of them, but the time in the changing room before the game is the time to talk football, football and more football. If you're going to tell stories let them be football stories that the crew can learn from, and if you contribute to the pre-game keep it focussed on the matter in hand not something going off at a complete tangent.

Because this kind of thing just might happen ... and it did, last Saturday at Derby.

A attempts a PAT. The kick is low and is blocked at the line of scrimmage. It cannons off to the side, bounces on B's 2 yard line and on about the second bounce, still untouched and being hotly pursued by all and sundry bounces into B's end zone where in a split second it is dived on and secured by a team B player.

Now I may be wrong but, in the general confusion, which is what it was, had it been A who had dived on the ball, how many of us would

1. not have blown the play dead if it had rolled into the end zone first before being dived on?
2. blown the play dead and taken a second to think about what had just happened?
3. immediately have awarded a touchdown to team A?

- the options are numerous but these are the three that immediately occur to me.

Although the rules are quite clear, (and go look them up if you don't know what they are) the human factors in the situation, and the fact that it is something out of the ordinary happening very quickly, make it a play full of pitfalls for an official. The only thing that successfully gets you through a situation like that is concentration and focus. And that's a habit we need to get into from the moment we walk into the changing room ...

Tim Vickers #129

JIM'S JOTTINGS

If Roger can have rhetoric...!

An occasional foray into the rules and mechanics based on play situations I've recently witnessed or heard about.

1. Even if the goal posts aren't vertical, they still count. If the ball passes through them, the kick is good. It's the same for both teams. NEVER try to judge where the goal posts should be.
2. Wherever on the field a pass is thrown to, there ought to be at least 2 officials who can get a view of whether it is complete or incomplete. This is important because when the ball is caught, the player may have their back to the nearest official. Therefore, it often has to be an official further away who has to make the call as to whether the ball was caught or trapped. That might even be from all the way across the field, occasionally.
3. On a 6 or 7-man crew, when the ball might be punted to "coffin corner" (i.e. out of bounds inside the 10-yard line), the FJ and SJ should both be positioned on the goal line pylons.

TAUNTING

Play: With 1:22 to play in the 3rd quarter, it is 4th and 10 for Team A from its own 30-yard line. B1 catches the punt at his own 40-yard line and breaks into the clear. At Team A's 10-yard line, just before crossing the goal-line for a touchdown, B1 taunts A2.
Should that foul be administered as a live-ball foul, nullifying the score? Also, should B1 be disqualified?

Ruling: The foul described qualifies as unsportsmanlike conduct, a live-ball foul treated as a dead-ball foul. That means the touchdown counts but Team B will attempt its try from Team A's 18-yard line or the kick-off. Common-or garden variety taunting generally does not merit disqualification in and of itself. However, if B1 had been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct earlier in the game, he would be disqualified for having two such fouls (9-2-1a-1b Pen).

Reprinted with written permission from Referee magazine.
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