Hiding numbers with tape

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

I will also point out that compliance with the NFHS rules can be maintained and the team member with the taped jersey can legally play simply by charging a technical foul to the head coach for allowing a player to participate with an illegal jersey. Not a big deal to some coaches and officials, but others consider that penalty a major issue.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Actually there is. The number must be centered both vertically and horizontally on a player’s jersey according to 3-4-3b.
Therefore, if the 1 in a 13 printed on a shirt is covered with tape, the remaining 3 will not be centered as required by rule.

You or other officials can certainly choose to allow this fix and look the other way, but stating that there isn’t a rule preventing it is untrue.

This may be a check your local listing thing as well. For example, the CYO league I officiate for has a rule that specifically states that illegal and duplicate numbers can be made legal with tape. I've only had this happen once when a team combined its two 5th grade teams and had to resolve two sets of duplicate numbers. In such a case, I would not penalize for an uncentered number because the spirit of the rule (original number centered but temporarily altered to not be a duplicate) has been met even if the alteration means the letter of the rule has not.

Even absent the aforementioned rule, I'd agree with BillyMac and his citation of case 3.3.7. To allow a coach to alter a duplicate/illegal number with tape and then hit that coach with a direct T for the subsequently corrected yet uncentered number seems like a gotcha and contrary to the spirit of the rule.

This is also a situation where officials need to know the difference in the penalties for a duplicate number (administrative team technical per FED 10-1-2-e) and an illegal number/uniform (direct technical on the head coach per FED 10-6-4).