[BillyMac]

Nevadaref:

Thanks for pointing out this unannounced change. I noticed this last year while preparing for our Board #6 Refresher Exam. If I recall correctly, previously a player, while holding the ball inbounds, was allowed to touch a player who was out of bounds, without being called for an out of bounds violation. Of course player excluded coaches and referees (not sure about substitutes), which meant that previously, if said player contacted a coach or referee who was out of bounds, said player would be deemed out of bounds.

I hate it when the NFHS makes changes without listed them on their annual rule changes list. For someone who has been refereeing for as long as me, the changes are more difficult to remember than the rules themselves, so it helps when the NFHS highlights changes every year.

By the way, it was me, through my Board #6 interpreter, who brought attention to the NFHS a few years ago about the deletion of the "captain's line up" rule when several subsitutes enter the game at the same time. A coach had seen a request for a line up in a freshman game that he had been observing. He asked me if there was such a rule, to which I replied that there was. When I went to the rule book to find the citation, I couldn't find it, so I figured it was one of those unannounced changes. After questioning my interpreter, he discovered that the rule had been inadvertently left out a few years before, which continued for several years, until the coach noticed it and brought it to my attention. It's back in the book now.

You would think that with all it's resources, including proofreaders and checkers, that the NFHS would be able to prevent unannounced changes and deletions. Go figure.