BAFRA Newsflash 35/07

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ISSUE 35/07	10 September 2007

LETTER OF THANKS

Dear Jim

As our season has now come to an end I wished to write to you to thank all BAFRA officials for their efforts during the 2007 season. I hope my returned scorecards confirm my overall view of an increased level of professionalism and ability amongst the officiating crews this year. In particular a number of crews have shown much better communication amongst themselves, and to head coaches, leading to a more consistent standard of officiating.

If our sport is to move forward in this country it is vital that we continue to support, as well as attract, officials willing to dedicate their time to enable a complex game to be played in the manner that is intended under NCAA rules. I would therefore like to speak up for the silent majority and put on record our appreciation for the difficult job that your members do.

I was particularly saddened to read in the 3rd September bulletin about an attack on BAFRA officials. Such behaviour cannot be condoned under any circumstances. It is a matter entirely for yourselves regarding post-game conduct but personally I would rather have a chance to thank the officiating crew and advance the dialogue between coaches and officials in the interests of the game. I understand that safety is paramount but would not want to see an isolationist position from officials as I believe this could ultimately lead to further breakdowns in communication. Anyway I do hope that the individuals concerned feel willing and able to remain part of the sport and would be grateful if you could pass on my regrets.

On a wider theme I continue to be confounded by the number of players and coaches who believe they know the rules better than the officials. Despite two years of being in charge at the Mustangs I still hear voices over my shoulder offering opinions on the validity of decisions, most of which are wrong I hasten to add. So I can't help feeling that perhaps either my approach to explaining the mechanics of the game is wrong or players just love to hate 'zebras'. As a possible way forward I was wondering if a locally based official might be willing to come to one of our training sessions prior to next season to explain the officials perspective and answer any questions (submitted in advance), something akin to the NFL crews visiting the team training camps. Just a thought but I'd be grateful if you could float the idea.

All the best and once again thank you

Andy Patel
Head Coach – Doncaster Mustangs

CHANGES IN RESPONSIBILITIES AND SITUATIONS VACANT

Firstly, the vacancies filled by Roger Stangroom's impending retirement have been filled by the appointment of the following people (effective 1st October):

General Secretary - Paul Sutton
Deputy General Secretary - Russell Newton
Webmaster - Colin Willox
Newsflash editor - Dean Wright
Member of the Rules & Mechanics Committee - Steve Tonkinson

Thanks to these people and also the others who volunteered their services.

Secondly, I'm sad to report that James Weir has handed in his resignation as Director of Recruitment. James has taken on new job responsibilities recently, and that has left him with less time to spend on football activities. The other directors would like to thank James for all that he has done for BAFRA over the past year or so, and I'm sure we all wish him well for the future.

As well as the resulting vacancy for Director of Recruitment, the introduction of the new constitution means that we also need a further two new directors to join the Board. These directors will not have fixed responsibilities - instead they will be tasked with leading BAFRA's efforts on various projects from time to time.

Being a director is a responsible job, but it will look good on your CV and give you a chance to put something back into football in general and BAFRA in particular. BAFRA is an equal opportunities organisation so we welcome applications from members regardless of ethnic origin, gender, age or years of officiating experience.

If you're interested in discussing what might be required of someone in any of these three vacant roles, please phone or email me.

Jim Briggs
president@bafra.org

WEMBLEY GAME UPDATE

The news from the NFL is not optimistic for BAFRA being asked to supply any personnel. I've exchanged emails with Jim Daopoulos from the NFL Officiating Department. He has asked 7 EFAF officials (including me) for their availability to work on the chain crew. I asked him what was happening about clock operators, ball boys etc. His reply was: "Since this is a regular season league game, all positions must be filled by the home team (clock operators, ball boys, etc). It was difficult getting the league to OK using EFAF for the chain crew since the guys from Miami had planned to do the job at this game. If any other positions come available I will let you know and attempt to use BAFRA officials."

Keep your fingers crossed, but if you really want to be at the game, it might be worth entering the BAFA ticket lottery (details as sent out last week).

Jim Briggs
president@bafra.org

ROGER'S RHETORIC

From last week

Play: A's ball, 3rd and 20, on A's 35. QB A18's legal forward pass is muffed by A88 on A's 49. A65 releases downfield from the neutral zone after A18 throws the pass. B28 is about to catch the pass when A65 pushes B28 out of the way, catches the pass and runs to B's 46 where he is downed.

Ruling: A's ball, 3rd and 25, on A's 30. The movement by Guard A65 going downfield after the pass was thrown is legal. The last known interpretation is that it is not a foul for A65 to push B28 out of the way after the pass is touched but A65 commits an illegal touching foul. The 5-yard penalty is enforced from the previous spot, A's 35, with no loss of down. (CCA00084)

New this week

This cropped up in last week's pre-game and you can blame Keith Wickham:
Which contact foul is penalised as Unsportsmanlike Conduct, and which non-contact-foul is treated as a Personal Foul (we came up with two)?

Ruling?

DISCIPLINARY CASES

NAME	#	TEAM	CODE	Q	OFFENCE	SUSPENDED
9 September
NONE
Outstanding items from previous weeks
NONE
Note: it is the responsibility of the individual teams to ensure that their suspended players serve their suspensions in the proper game (according to the BAFA Disciplinary Code), and any dates mentioned here are intended only as a guide.

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

HOME TEAM	REPORT	NEXT HOME GAME
9 September
London Warriors	For a semi final game it was lacking in many areas: - No 5 yard lines (exception 45yd line to mark midfield). - No sidelines hashmarks on either side. - No inbounds hashmarks (inbounds marks were present on every main line running north/south). - No 9 yard marks OR Numbers. - Football pitch marks still visible causing a few double lines close to each other (these were east/west lines and not sidelines/endlines so deemed not to cause a problem to player safety). - Team Areas and Coaching boxes were not marked with lines, cones had simply been used on both sides at roughly the correct distance. - Chain Crew and Ball boys consistently slow and inadequate (Chain Crew initially refused to do the second half - but we notified the Head Coach/Game Manager of this and they convinced them to carry on). - Chain set of incorrect height. - Only 1 ball was provided in good condition, the other 2 were very worn and old by comparison. - Changing Areas locked until approximately 20 minutes after the end of the game leaving visiting team, officials and home team standing outside the building. - After 30 minutes from end of game it became apparent that the game management had not sorted out payment for crew or the admin fee and we returned the game balls to a London coach and notified him that we were leaving the site. Phil Clarke #372	Next Season
London Blitz	Hash marks very irregular - some more, some less than 1 yard apart. One end zone was 9yds deep, the other was 11yds. Numbers less than 9yds from sideline. Coaching box lines marked correctly, but no team area lines. Limit lines marked only 6ft from sideline. This posed a problem because spectators (and there were quite a few) crowded up to them. On one occasion the game was suspended for 5 minutes while game management were called to move a spectator who refused an official's request to step back from the sideline. On another occasion, spectators seated on the ground just outside the sideline were forced to dive out of the way when players ran towards them. The 3 balls that were provided by the Blitz were nothing like new and very worn. The Olympians were given the opportunity to provide some better balls, but did not have their gameday balls with them. Jim Briggs #31	Next Season
Outstanding items from previous weeks
NONE
Note: it is possible that any game may be cancelled and also any team may arrange additional games, and so any dates mentioned here are intended only as a guide.