My referee is a great official: he is going to be working in the Hula Bowl next month.
Its my belief that the style he favors is to wait until the snap is imminent in this situation. Team A did not break the huddle with 12. The substitute came in when they were coming up to the line. Several players seemed confused and nobody was making a move back towards the sideline. I did look at the referee before throwing my flag.
I'm going to check with him again when I see him next month. I believe he wanted to give team A a chance to either get the replaced player off the field, call a time-out, or take the delay of game penalty. The team in question was behind in the score at this point during the second half.
So I believe this was caused by officials not used to working together. We did discuss our counting responsibilities but did not talk about the mechanics regarding throwing the flag for illegal substitution.
One referee I work with on a regular basis suggested this mechanic: count, make eye contact with hand on head to signify 12 or more, nod, put hand on flag, nod again, then throw. I know it sounds like a lot but its a good mechanic to ensure that both officials have their count right and it looks sharp to throw together.
Lastly, perhaps the referee I worked with just wants the umpire to confirm the count and the referee throws the flag. Its something I will not take for granted in the future when I'm working with a referee I've not worked with previously.
Thanks guys. Any other suggestions on mechanics would be greatly appreciated.
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Mike Simonds
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