Weekly Bull 7/6/16

SAN DIEGO COUNTY FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION, INC.

A Federal Non Profit Tax Exempt Corporation – www.sdcfoa.org

THE WEEKLY BULL - JULY 6, 2016

Tonight’s Agenda

  1. Introductions: Special Guests, Board Members, Crew Chiefs, Recruiting Committee, New 1st Year Members

  2. Message from the President

  3. Awarding of patches to new regulars

  4. Announcements:

    • Executive Secretary

    • Assignment Secretaries

    • Treasurer

    • Banquet Chair

    • Instructional Chair

  5. Guest Speaker – Mike Carey, Former NFL Referee and NFL Rules Expert for CBS

  6. Adjourn to Classrooms

    • Packet Contents, Bull, New Rules & New Mechanics 

Pop Warner Referee Clinic - For all current and interested referees - Wednesday, July 13th at 7:00 pm at Santana High School Room 804 (one building east of science building).  Don Carey will be presenting the importance of working with newer officials while working the referee position.  All current referees of youth football and aspiring referees are to attend this important meeting! All 1st year, 2nd year, and transfers must meet in their regular classes and will not attend this session.

2016- New Rules:

  1. COLOR RESTRICTIONS REMOVED FROM TOOTH AND MOUTH PROTECTORS: Completely clear or completely white tooth and mouth protectors are no longer prohibited. Tooth and mouth protectors shall include an occlusal (protecting and separating the biting surfaces) portion and include a labial (protecting the teeth and supporting structures) portion.

  1. NEW SFIA FOOTBALL GLOVE SPECIFICATION: Football gloves are now required to meet either the new SFIA specification or the existing NOCSAE test standard at the time of manufacture.

  1. LEGAL CLIPPING ELIMINATED WITHIN THE FREE-BLOCKI NG ZONE: In a continued effort to minimize risk, the Committee made clipping in the free-blocking zone illegal. Clipping is now illegal anywhere on the field at any time.

As for blocking below the waist in the free blocking zone, while the QB is in shot gun or pistol, I have worked with all associations within the state and the following is the guideline being used throughout California:

Blocking Below the Waist is permitted in the Free Blocking Zone when:

  1. All players involved in the blocking are on the line of scrimmage and in the zone at the snap

  2. The contact is in the zone

  3. The ball has not left the zone.

While in a shotgun formation, an offensive lineman may legally block below the waist if the offensive player (who is lined up in the Free Blocking Zone) is in a 3 or 4 point stance, and the contact is immediate and with a defensive opponent (who is lined up in the Free Blocking Zone) on the line and head up over the offensive lineman.  It will be an illegal block below the waist if the offensive lineman is in a 2-point stance, or if there is any hesitation, or if the block is not against a head up defender, as the ball will be considered to have left the zone prior to the contact below the waist. 

 “Head up” is defined as having both shoulders within the frame of the opponent’s body. 

LEGAL JERSEYS, PANTS AND PADS

In addition, the National Federation has added the following to its Points of Emphasis for this season:

Jerseys are required to completely cover the shoulder pads and any auxiliary pads, such as rib pads or back pads.  Pants must completely cover the knees and knee pads and knee pads must be worn over the knee.

It is becoming more common to see sleeves of jerseys slide up over the top of the shoulder pad, thus exposing a portion of the pad or untucked jerseys that do not cover the back pads.  Additionally, many players wear pants that slide up during use, thus exposing the knee pad or the knee.

A player whose jersey or pants slide up during game action must immediately make an adjustment to the garment to ensure that it covers all pads and protective equipment or, in the case of pants, fully covers the knees and knee pads.  Game officials should not permit the ball to become live when they observe any player whose jersey or pants fail to comply with the rules. 

2016 New Mechanics: – Manuals are available for download on-line at www.sdcfoa.org 

  1. Use of the Catch Signal on close plays by the sideline. If the receiver is out of bounds, we utilize the signal incomplete and then, using both hands, make a sweeping motion toward the sideline. It would be appropriate to have a signal to sell the catch as well. Umpires could also utilize this signal on passes across the middle on tight/close plays.   Approved in committee (6-2).

  1. 5 yard tape signal. It is important that we communicate the status of where the ball is in relation to the 5 yard tape on the chains. The HL will put one of his hands out on either side to indicate that the ball is short or beyond the 5 yard tape.   Approved in committee (8-0).

  1. High School Scrimmage uniform. The approved high school scrimmage uniform is the SDCFOA approved hot-weather youth football uniform.   Approved in committee (8-0).

  1. Backwards pass signal. Close Forward/Backward Pass - If pass is thrown away from you, you have primary responsibility for knowing if the initial direction of the pass was forward or backward.  You will signal to the opposite flank by punching forward or backward accordingly.  If the pass is to your side, you will relay the signal provided by the opposite flank. If the pass is to your side and you do not receive help from the opposite flank, you will rule forward or backward and signal accordingly.   Approved in committee (7-1).

  1. Backjudge to signal when 5 seconds is left on the play clock. Backjudge shall raise his hand straight so that the QB and coaches from the offense can recognize that they running out of time. Approved in committee (8-0).

  1. Flanks to switch at halftime on five (5) selected games. The NFL, NCAA and the high school association in Kentucky use this mechanic. Kentucky proposed that the NFHS use this mechanic for all games.  That proposal failed to be approved at this year’s NFHS mechanics meeting.  The Association would like to gather our own information on this mechanics.  This is a proposed Pilot Program for 2016 only.  The SDCFOA will work with coaches who are on the CIF Coaches Advisory Committee (Ramona, Madison, Grossmont, Castle Park, Horizon) and identify one of their games to pilot this mechanic.  Feedback from these five coaches and our crews would be gathered and used to determine if we should propose any such mechanic in the future.  This mechanic will be used in a total of 5 selected games only and is not to be used at any other time by our Association.

  1. Incorporate new mechanics on pass/run play responsibilities (with diagrams). See the diagrams, which clearly show where officials should be looking at on different types of play.   Approved in committee (8-0). 

July 6 2016
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