|
Ok, I admit it, I'm a rat coach with insufficient knowledge of the rules. That being said, I come to you all for enlightenment.
In my youth team's game today (played under FED rules) on 4th down and 2, our opponent managed to squeak out 78 yards [Edit: okay maybe it was only 60] for a touchdown, due mainly, I'm sure, to my coaching abilities. Certainly not due to the officials, let me make that clear. We were however, fortunate in that one of my players received a cheap shot in the back (no worries, he was able to walk again by dinnertime) around midfield, flagged by two officials, negating the touchdown, thereby saving our collective bacons.
However, we coaches were flummoxed to discover that 4th down was not being repeated, but they had awarded first down to the offense. Since marking from the spot of the foul would NOT have been 1st down yardage, I asked Mr.Referee if, perchance, he might have made an error. He then made a statement most amazing to me, he said "No, since the runner had already achieved first down yardage when the penalty occurred, it's a first down."
I, being a clever coach, asked if perchance this was a new rule that just applied to youth leagues, and was told no, it applied to every level of football and always had.
Now I know two things for sure; 1) Anytime an official is this confident in his ruling, and I've checked on the rule, he's been right and I've been wrong. 2)However,I've watched a lot of football at all levels and never seen/noticed this ruling but occasionally there's beer involved.
So I went on an on-line rules search and came up almost blank. Complete football rulebooks are hard to find online. The only rule I found close to this topic was in the official CFL book on-line which states in Section 2 Article 1:
"Should any foul be committed on a play from scrimmage after the yardage necessary for a first down has been gained the penalty shall be applied from the point where the ball was held when the foul occurred."
My question to you is, IS THIS A RULE IN OUR GAME? Is there anything like this? Have I been that unconscious all these years? Or are these Canadians really leading the way in cutting edge football methodologies?
Please, help me out, a coach's night's sleep hangs in the balance.
thanks.
[Edited by whitecane on Sep 19th, 2005 at 03:07 AM]
|