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Old Sun Nov 01, 2009, 08:35am
JugglingReferee JugglingReferee is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2000
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ML99 View Post
We had the following situation today:

We had a ball fumbled into the endzone. both teams tried to recover the ball. There was a big pile on the ball. We digged. At the end a player of each team had the ball in their hands. Simultaneously possession of both teams. In my opinoin it should belong to the Offense than and a TD should have been ruled.

The Ump and the LJ both said (after we found out the simultaneously possession) that the Team B had possesion on the ground before the pile developed.

It looked stupid to dig - find a team A and team B player both holding the ball and than enforce a Touchback because the 2 colleagues of mine saw the Team B possession before the pile grew.

What to do in such a situation?

Comments are welcome ...
When there is a pile, and possession is not known, you must dig.

If an official has a ruling that would cause the dig to be immaterial, they must be proactive and voice this ruling, and signal as such.

The officials calling the TB should come in and make their voice heard. If they didn't, it can be said to be an error in mechanics, but this doesn't change the ruling on the field, or who by rule is entitled to the ball.

The right call was made in the end. That's what matters.

All it is is a learning point for all officials: either something new or to enforce what was already known.
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