Federation point of emphasis - Malicious contact

[Tim C]

Some of you probably remember that I was one of the two authors of the original Malicious Contact Rules for the National Federation.

When we were asked to develop the rule we were told by the NFSH: "try to keep it simple and eliminate judgment as much as possible."

We settled on two determining factors:

1) Was the runner trying to injure the defensive player and,

2) Was the runner trying to dislodge the ball from the possession of the defensive player.

The only thing the NFHS edited was the were worried "what if" the defensive player instagited the contact.

In the "what if" giving one player tackling another does not neccessarily mean there is MC . . . but it does mean an unsportsmanlike activity did occur and you eject for that.

MC is simple if you keep it simple.