Mistake in NF test Part 1 - really, this time

[Mark Padgett]

Peter McDonald, who is a ref in Canada, emailed me with what he thought is an error in Part 1 of the NF test. He's right. This is not one of those cases where he "just disagrees with the interpretation". The answer is flat out wrong. It is question 64. The question is "The calling official shall notify the player and then notify the coach of a player disqualification." True or false? The official NF answer sheet (which I have) says the question is true and references rule 2-8-4, which states (officials' additional duties) "Designate the calling official as the official who shall notify the coach and then notify the player on a disqualification." As you can see, the order of notification is reversed from the question, making the question false, not true. Since I believe the main intent is to make sure the officials know to notify both the player and the coach, with the order being secondary (my opinion) I am going to instruct our association commissioner to accept either answer. Good catch, Peter.

[Barry C. Morris]

Mark, it is true that we are to notify both coach and player but, I am sure you know, there is a reason that we are to notify the coach first: once the coach is notified, the player becomes bench personnel, thus, the coach will be hit with an indirect technical if you have to whack the player after you notify him and he/she decides to act like a fool.