25/40 Play clock

[tomes1978]

Originally Posted by wheels

Tomes1978, are you a 5 or 7 men crew?

We are 5 man crews.

[tomes1978]

Another issue is getting a chain crew that will hustle. That's the hard part!!!!!

[wheels]

Originally Posted by tomes1978

Another issue is getting a chain crew that will hustle. That's the hard part!!!!!

I agree! I have a 3rd concern, Mobile BJ. We don't have set crews and guys can get assigned different positions. Last year, I had some slow BJs and wings guys. This new rule makes it tough.

For the non-field clocks, how did you handle pumping up the play clock on delays? Not having a physical clock or using the Ref Smart.

I like the Ref Smart, but that would be the only negative is not knowing how much time is left.

[Tom.OH]

Originally Posted by tomes1978

Another issue is getting a chain crew that will hustle. That's the hard part!!!!!

But they've been doing it for 30 years...

[jTheUmp]

The NCAA games around here all have at least 4 ball people (honestly, the softball/women's basketball players seem to be the most attentive... good luck if it's the wrestlers).

Two per sideline, one standing with the LOS official, one near the deep official. Ideally, each one will have one ball for each team. Ball goes OOB, the wing official turns and gets a new ball from the nearest ball person (usually the one nearest the LOS official) and relays it in to me, and the other ball person gets to hunt down the one that went OOB. We can get away with as few as three game balls per team (one per sideline, plus the one in play. For Team B, keep the 3rd ball on the pressbox side, since we always get a new ball from the pressbox side after a change of possession)

Of course, this requires 4 attentive ball persons, and 5 game balls per team... neither of which are going to happen in a high school game.

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

The NCAA games around here all have at least 4 ball people (honestly, the softball/women's basketball players seem to be the most attentive... good luck if it's the wrestlers).

Two per sideline, one standing with the LOS official, one near the deep official. Ideally, each one will have one ball for each team. Ball goes OOB, the wing official turns and gets a new ball from the nearest ball person (usually the one nearest the LOS official) and relays it in to me, and the other ball person gets to hunt down the one that went OOB. We can get away with as few as three game balls per team (one per sideline, plus the one in play. For Team B, keep the 3rd ball on the pressbox side, since we always get a new ball from the pressbox side after a change of possession)

Of course, this requires 4 attentive ball persons, and 5 game balls per team... neither of which are going to happen in a high school game.

That's how our college games go as well although each ball person will have balls for the same team. That way the wing can turn to the right official and reduce the likelihood of getting the wrong ball. If the ball boys have to keep track of which ball belongs to which team they will send the wrong ball in a couple times. But both systems work fine.

We usually have 2 or 3 ball kids on each side for HS games and most teams check 3-5 balls each game so it's definitely possible. It's been that way for my near 20-year experience of officiating HS so we are used to it. It could be hard if you have no ball persons today and each team only checks one ball. But it's definitely doable because there are plenty of kids who would love to do it and each team has 8-10 usable balls. Just go to a practice to know that.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

That's how our college games go as well although each ball person will have balls for the same team. That way the wing can turn to the right official and reduce the likelihood of getting the wrong ball. If the ball boys have to keep track of which ball belongs to which team they will send the wrong ball in a couple times. But both systems work fine.

We usually have 2 or 3 ball kids on each side for HS games and most teams check 3-5 balls each game so it's definitely possible. It's been that way for my near 20-year experience of officiating HS so we are used to it. It could be hard if you have no ball persons today and each team only checks one ball. But it's definitely doable because there are plenty of kids who would love to do it and each team has 8-10 usable balls. Just go to a practice to know that.

And that is why many of us are concerned about this new rule. What you are talking about as if it is the norm is not the norm or will not be the norm for many of us. We still have no policy to have a uniformed response to changing balls. I would love it if they did just partially what college does, but there is no such policy or action that everyone seems to agree on to use. So every week will be an adventure.

Peace

[JRutledge]

Worked a few scrimmages and the rule does work for the most part. The issue is going to be when the situations take place that happens in real game situations. And my biggest concern is end of game situations where teams might just use this to milk the clock.

I still think like most brand new NF rules, this was not very well thought out and certainly did not think of the possible application of these rules. It is one thing to say what jersey cannot be worn or what types of jewelry needs to be taken off, those are easy fixes. This takes a series of things and situations that could cause problems. If you do not have a ball boy system in place, this rule is going to have very inconsistent application. If you have no on-field game clocks across the board, you will have inconsistent application.

Peace