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Interesting differences here overseas.
We have youth and adult tackle programs and the men's teams can get VERY difficult sometimes. The concept of sportsmanship and fair play sometimes take a backseat to ramming people into the ground and soccer style hooliganism.
The philosophy in our area (and I believe in all of Germany) is that if A says they are going to take a knee, no one should move. If B attacks, they will be penalized and most probably ejected (with concequences).
We need to do this to keep cheap shots from happening out of frustration. I've never seen someone fumble the snap on a kneeldown, but I expect we would just call the play dead anyways.
It's not the way I would like to do it, but it seems to be necessary with some of our teams.
Actually that is why I got into officiating. To try to show the kids here a little of what I learned growning up - fair play, respect for others (and self), how to win and lose with dignity. They don't really get it though... At least not in the short term, maybe I have an impact farther down the road when they have grown up... Who knows.
James
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