DISCIPLINARY CASES

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

BOWL CREWS

The Selection Committee met on 3rd September and after much deliberation agreed on the crews for the three BAFL finals. Congratulations to all concerned.

Crews should arrive at the venue at least two hours before kickoff, having taken time to study 7-man mechanics for their position. For each game, there will be a stadium game clock and a referee's microphone.

Pete Thom
Chairman, BAFRA Selection Committee
operations@bafra.org

BOWL WEEKEND ATTIRE

The Division 1 bowl crew have decided to wear BAFRA black polo shirts off-field. Can we recommend the same policy to the other two crews (and the crew working the youth exhibition game on Saturday afternoon)?

BAFCA CONVENTION

A reminder that the British American Football Coaches Association is holding its annual Convention in Leicester over the weekend of 15th-17th September. All BAFA members are welcome to attend. Jim Criner is the guest speaker.

For more details see http://www.bafca.org/clinic.htm.

Jim Briggs
president@bafra.org

BAFA PRESS RELEASE

BAFA freezes fees for a second year

BAFA, the National Governing Body for American Football in Britain, has decided to freeze its membership fee at £10 for a second year. This is the payment that all players, coaches and officials contribute to the running of the Sport and its development.

BAFA Chairman Gary Marshall said,
"Membership of BAFA continues to grow each year, and we currently have over 5000 people participating in the sport. We have a number of initiatives under way, including putting together our Whole Sport Plan for submission to Sport England in an attempt to gain the status of a ‘Developmental Sport’. If achieved this would unlock funding to develop our Sport. To this end BAFA has submitted an application to join the CCPR (Central Council for Physical Recreation) as this will enable us to get the expert help and advice we need when putting the plan together.

We are also continuing to work in partnership with the NFL to develop other initiatives to take our Sport further and increase participation at all levels. BAFA is also supporting the BAFCA in its annual conference and next year will be working with the Coaches Association to make this annual event a BAFA Conference, widening both the scope and appeal to include all BAFA members. We are planning to hold this event from the 22nd to the 24th June 2007 and all leagues have been asked not to schedule fixtures for that weekend to enable participation and attendance from all sections of BAFA. BAFA is also supporting the Referees Association, BAFRA, in their bid to set up an elite programme for the continued development of our officials.

Even with all of these initiatives underway or in the process of being started, our financial projections show that we can adequately fund them from our present budget, therefore it is completely appropriate to keep the fees at the current level for the coming year’’

In other business, BAFA agreed to set in motion a series of steps that will lead to the formation of a single National Association for adult flag football. All Flag Football in Great Britain is now coming under the BAFA umbrella.

ELITE TRAINING DAY

A final reminder about the Elite Programme training day. It's on Saturday 16th September starting at 0930 and finishing mid-afternoon. The venue is the Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel. Directions from the Holiday Inn website say:

• Leave the M25 at junction 15 onto the M4.
• Leave the M4 at junction 4 onto the spur road towards Heathrow airport.
• Take the first left off towards the A4, onto the Bath Road (A4 to London)./li>
• Go through 3 sets of traffic lights and the hotel is on your left.

Note there are 2 Holiday Inns on the A4 at Heathrow. This one is at the east end of the airport.

The programme includes some video review, a practical session (please bring a flag and bean bag) and of course lots of discussion of rules and mechanics.

A few people have let me know that they can't attend, so there are some vacancies for not-yet elite officials to come along if they wish. Just let me know.

Jim Briggs
president@bafra.org

EFAF CLINIC

Advance notice that the EFAF Officiating Clinic will be held from January 19-21 2007 in Dublin (Ireland). More news on EFAF next week.

JIM'S JOTTINGS

1. On a successful try, if the holder is roughed, Team A can either repeat the try (probably half-distance to the goal) or accept the point and have the 15-yard penalty enforced on the kickoff (Rule 8-3-3-b).
2. Suppose on a try, the ball is kicked all along the ground and is recovered by a Team A player in the end zone. Does it score 2 points? Almost certainly not.
   1. The ball will be dead if it touches the ground in the end zone before Team B touches it.
   2. If Team A recover it on a bounce from the field of play, then their touching will be illegal unless Team B touched it first.
   3. If Team B touch it within 3 yards of the neutral zone (which is up to the goal line if the try is from the normal position on the 3-yard line), that will be disregarded since it will be considered "blocking the kick" (Rules 2-10-5 and 6-3-1-b).
   4. Consequently, the only circumstances where Team A could recover the ball for 2 points would be if the ball was touched by a Team B player more than 3 yards beyond the neutral zone and before it touched the ground in the end zone AND THEN Team A recovered it.
3. Remember there are 6 categories of defensive pass interference (Mechanics Manual, chapter 3):
   1. Not playing the ball – Contact by a defender (who is not playing the ball) that impedes or restricts the receiver's opportunity to make the catch.
   2. Playing through an opponent – Playing through the receiver (i.e. contacting him in the back or on the side of him furthest from the ball), even if attempting to play the ball.
   3. Grabbing an arm – Grabbing the receiver's arm in a manner that restricts his opportunity to catch a pass.
   4. Arm bar – Extending an arm across the receiver's body to impede his ability to catch a pass, whether or not the defender is playing the ball.
   5. Cut off – Cutting off the path of a receiver by making contact with him without playing the ball (i.e. before the defender looks for the ball).
   6. Hook and turn – Hooking the receiver around the waist that causes his body to turn prior to the ball arriving (even if the defender is trying to get to the ball).