should I have thrown a flag??

[Ed Hickland]

Originally posted by MN BB Ref
A hold by any other name is still a hold...and they are illegal. If you were to only penalize the ones that "affect the play" you will undoubtedly hear from the opposing coach who didn't receive the call...and he is right. IN fact, I have no qualms about calling a hold (or block in the back for that matter) that is completely out of the play. To me that is stupid football, especially at the varsity level, and the players should realize that there is no need to even initiate contact in most of those cases.

Hopefully they will learn to play smarter football by learning from dumb mistakes.

Just my two cents worth...

I agree that a flag should have been thrown because a hold on a free kick could have an affect on coverage.

However, I disagree with the philosophy of throwing flags when the flags have absolutely no affect on the play unless it is unnecessary roughness.

Years ago when I started out I threw flags for almost everything. After working with various officials and observing games it become obvious the idea behind penalties are to keep one team from gaining an advantage. Example, if the play is to the left and a hold occurs 40 yards away on th eopposite side of the field, did the hold cause the offender to gain an advantage? The answer is no. So, why would you or should you throw a flag.

However, if the action on the opposite side of the field were a particularly rough block in the back it should be called because the offender is gaining th eadvantge of intimidation.