Court involvement.

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

What's more, the coach could have requested a conference with the referee to challenge the ruling when it was made but of course didn't because he didn't know the rule either.

I'm not a football official, but I was talking with a basketball partner who does football about this case. He pretty much said the same thing, that the head coach has a window to clarify the enforcement of a penalty (and would be charged a time out or a penalty if he's wrong). If this head coach never used this window, then that's a glaring error on the coach, and he should have owned up to that and stopped this appeals nonsense.

That doesn't absolve the crew from this error at all, but some responsibility has to go on the coach.