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Old Wed Jul 16, 2003, 01:18pm
Ed Hickland Ed Hickland is offline
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Join Date: Aug 1999
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Quote:
Originally posted by Smiley
Quote:
Originally posted by STEVED21
In a perfect world, we would always catch the illegal sub in time to call the foul well before the snap. Usually, this is an honest mistake by the sub and we should stop him before he commits the IS foul. Preventive officiating as Ed has said. However, some coaches use this "substitution" to deceive the other team. That's when 9-5-1f comes into play. It is for a truly unsportsmanlike act.
Use of a substitution or pretended substitution to deceive the opponent is illegal participation, not unsportsmanlike conduct.
The sleeper play could fall under 9-5-1f but it should be negated by 7-2-1 which states players of A must come within 15 yards of the ball momentarily before the snap. That is a 5-yard live ball foul.

Now the sleeper play. A goes to the huddle with 10 players in the huddle -- legal. They come out into formation. A15 takes one step onto the field. That is deception; however, the closest to the sideline the ball could ever be is 17 yards. Therefore, the attempted deception becomes an illegal formation.

Also, closely read 9-5-1, what is written there are "examples" of unsportsmanlike behavior and substitutes acting to deceive really falls under 9-9-3 an unfair act seeking to make a travesty of the game. If you apply 9-9-3 the choice of penalty is up to the referee including the awarding of a score.

Of course, all this is textbook stuff because we would not let it happen on the field.
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