[equinox]

Hope I'm not out of line here.

I'm in Texas, and work as a videographer. I also serve on the board of the booster club of a prominent 5A high school football team. As you know, high schools in Texas use NCAA rules for the most part.

Around 9 years ago I was asked to videotape the team from the sidelines for part of an end-of-year highlight video to be shown at the football banquet and made available to parents. I was asked by the head football coach (who also serves as the campus athletic director) to get reaction shots of the team on the sidelines, the game itself, crowd shots, etc. There is also a person who has been taking pictures the past couple of years for the same purpose.

Everything has been okay until the past couple of weeks. The people who run our stadium have begun telling us we cannot under any circumstances enter the team box/area.

It is obviously difficult to grab shots of players up close on the sideline when you can't go in the team box. Not the end of the world necessarily, except those shots are usually of kids who otherwise never see the field.

The only other time this has ever come up was during a game about 6 years ago, when the side judge told me I could not be in the team box. At the half, I asked another official if that was the case and he said if I had been invited to be there by the coaching staff, it was okay.

Tonight, I asked a couple of officials that worked one of our freshman games about it, and got conflicting answers. One said he didn't think it was an issue, the other cited NCAA rules about media. The thing is, I'm not "media".

Our school district stadium policy and guidelines says nothing about the issue.

I know there are rules about viewing video during a game, and that is absolutely not an issue. I make it a point to bag my camera at halftime and in fact usually go hang out with the game officials (free hotdogs and cokes).

So, is this an issue with rules? Or is it just stadium personnel going overboard? I've read both the U.I.L rules (governing body in Texas) and the NCAA rules. I see some things that may apply, but am not sure. What say you?