|
Snake~Eyes - The 15 yard rule applies to A only... (7-2-1) Good thought, though...
Jim - I was going to get into the technicalities of encroachment after the last question was resolved, but since you brought it up...
Encroachment refers to being illegally in the neutral zone, but makes no reference to being beyond it... (Except for free kicks, where encroachment is defined as being beyond the free kick line...) I have found nothing that states it is a foul to be on the opposite side of the neutral zone at the snap...
So, by the strictest of interpretations, the 11th B player is not encroaching when he is on A's side of the ball... At the same time, he is not covered by the illegal substitution provisions (3-7) because he is not a substitute... So as long as he does not touch a player, touch the ball, give defensive signals, or cross the neutral zone to get back to his own side of the ball, he has committed no foul...
Obviously, this isn't correct... Please, someone find a rule that covers this...
(The only possibility I can come up with is by using 7-1-6 and adjusting the definition of "breaks the plane of the neutral zone" to include being beyond it...)
|