B52 is flagged for a personal foul, late hit. During penalty administration, the PA announcer says "personal foul, number 52. . . " B's coach goes balistic saying that is an unsportsmanlike on A for saying the players number. Has anyone ever heard of such? R explained to the coach that there is no such rule, to our knowledge, and that we don't listen to the PA anyway. Is there a rule on this to anyones knowledge (NFHS)?

No. The coach needs to pay attention to the field.

The only time a coach can have a complaint about that is if the home team is gaining an advantage via the PA system. We had such a situation last year. Home team is on defense and the PA announcer is giving play-by-play action as if he's a radio announcer. During the play we hear something like "He gives to Smith, IT'S A REVERSE...." You get the picture. The defense was gaining an advantage and my referee told the coach it had to stop immediately or a USC could be called against the home team. Some of you may disagree with our actions but we believe as a crew it was the appropriate thing to do.

I agree with this post. I would have handled it the same way. What about if the PA announcer is screaming DEFENSE-- DEFENSE!! I put a stop to that once also since the visiting team didn't have the luxury of a PA system to encourage their team.

It's a free country - the PA announcer can say whatever he wants.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JugglingReferee

Quote:

It's a free country - the PA announcer can say whatever he wants.

You don't think the announcer shouting DEFENSE over the PA system gives the home team an unfair advantage?

Agreed. We had the same thing several years ago. Put a stop to it immediately.

shouting and cheering is why we have football CHEERLEADERS not PA Announcers. Although i dont see what advantage it gives, when i played we never even listened to the pa guy.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Derock2004

Quote:

Originally posted by JugglingReferee Quote: It's a free country - the PA announcer can say whatever he wants. You don't think the announcer shouting DEFENSE over the PA system gives the home team an unfair advantage?

In the Canadian Rule book, the only rule that comes even close to pertaining to a PA announcer is 1.5.5 - Crowd Noise

"The Team A captain may request the Referee to stop the game if excessive crowd noise prevents Team A from putting the ball into play. The Referee, if he agrees with the captain, may permit Team A to return to its huddle. The Referee shall allow a reasonable time, but under no circumstances shall he permit play to be delayed more than 3 times."

This really has nothing to do with the PA announcer, but it could if he was causing excessive noise while the play was about to start.

As to what or what he can't say, the officials have no jurisdiction with that (unless he starts to make cracks about the officials ;))

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ref18

Quote:

Originally posted by Derock2004 Quote: Originally posted by JugglingReferee Quote: It's a free country - the PA announcer can say whatever he wants. You don't think the announcer shouting DEFENSE over the PA system gives the home team an unfair advantage? In the Canadian Rule book, the only rule that comes even close to pertaining to a PA announcer is 1.5.5 - Crowd Noise "The Team A captain may request the Referee to stop the game if excessive crowd noise prevents Team A from putting the ball into play. The Referee, if he agrees with the captain, may permit Team A to return to its huddle. The Referee shall allow a reasonable time, but under no circumstances shall he permit play to be delayed more than 3 times." This really has nothing to do with the PA announcer, but it could if he was causing excessive noise while the play was about to start. As to what or what he can't say, the officials have no jurisdiction with that (unless he starts to make cracks about the officials ;))

The officials have all the jurisdiction they need. You don't need to page through a rulebook for justification to have game management tell the guy to STFU.

Not true in the states my friend!
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JugglingReferee

Quote:

...As to what or what he can't say, the officials have no jurisdiction with that... ...It's a free country - the PA announcer can say whatever he wants.

While that may be true in Canada under 3-down football rules, it is not true here.
If the PA Announcer becomes a cheerleader, coach, an observer/critique of the officials, or is just a genuine overall pain in the a*s, then the home head coach he is warned once, (in my experiance, this course of action <b>usually</b> solves the problem.)
If the issue persists, an Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty is charged to the home team head coach, (in my experiance, this course of action <b>DOES</b> solve the problem.)

<b>NFHS 1-1-6</b><i>
The referee has authority to rule promptly, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, on any situation not specifically covered in the rules. The referee's decisions are final in all matters pretaining to the game.</i>

<b>NCAA 1-1-6</b><i>
All players, substitues, replaced players, coaches, trainers, cheerleaders in uniform, band members in uniform, mascots in uniform, commercial mascots, <b>public-address announcers,</b> audio and video system operaters, and other persons affiliated with the teams or institutions <b>are subject to the rules and shall be goverened by the decision of the officials.</b> Affiliated persons are those authorized within the team area.</i>

"And that's about all I have to say about that!!!" - Forrest Gump

To All: I was actually kidding... I wanted to see what kind of response I would get.


Julian: good points though about not having a specific rule to cover the PA guy. However, it can be covered under the elastic judgement rule, 2.3.1. Coincidentally, the same rule in Fed bball is 2.3. :)

REPLY: The big problem with some (many?) HS public address announcers is that they attempt to emulate the on-air game announcers and forget exactly what it is they should be using the microphone for.

We removed 2 separate PA guys for doing exactly that kind of play-by-play. The PA can say whatever he wants after the play ends ... I think it's cheesy for them to oversell for 1 team (WHAT A PLAY by John Jones!!!) and not the other, but I'm not going to stop them... But we do ask them to not call play-by-play during the play itself or to lead cheers. (And we had the "IT'S a REVERSE!!!! occurence 2 years ago as well).

A similar situation arose last night at our officials meeting... A discussion arose concerning a game where the opposing coach complained the band was playing loudly during their possesions and A was having a difficult time hearing audibles and counts.

R didn't do anything but stayed aware and noticed the band did indeed go quiet during home teams possesion. None of the crews, some with 25 years experience, had never heard of a coach complain in this manner.

Discussion ensued as to whether the NFHS rules addressed this specifically. I piped up, being the new guy and told them about this PA thread which was similar.

A lot of arguing, err, debating was had by all except me. (I'm still to new to be arguing with 25 years of experience!)

Isn't this an officials *overall* call as it lends an advantage to one team over another?

Real sportsmanlike, isn't it?

The problem with a band is specifically addressed in Georgia. The GHSA says that bands are not to play during live-ball situations. It further states that this includes the situation in which there is no timeout and the teams are in the huddle. If a team claims that band noise is interfering with communication, the WH shall give a warning to one or both head coaches who will instruct the band(s) to stop playing. If there is a second offense by the same school's band, an USC will be imposed against that team. The WH will always wait for a complaint before issuing a warning.

While the NF does not specifically cover the PA it does have a rule which can be invoked for that purpose. Rule 9.9.1 says a player or nonplayer or person not subject to the rules shall not hinder play by an unfair act which has no specific rule coverage.

In a game here last year there was a close call where the runner was ruled down by the wings and backjudge but the ball came squirting out. The home team (who was on defense) jumped on the ball, but we gave the ball back to the visitors since the ball was dead.

About that time the fans started to give some jeers and out of nowhere the PA guy goes "I don't know what the referees were looking at there folks."

Our White Hat threw a flag high in the air, walked over to the home head coach, talked to him for a bit (both nodded), and gave a sideline warning to them. About that time the home team's offensive coordinator gave the PA guy the headset and the headcoach told him that if he didn't keep his mouth shut the WH said he'd flag them for unsportsmanlike and turn the whole PA off.

I got a good chuckle out of it.

Nebraska and Iowa strictly forbids the PA announcers to do any play-by-play while the ball is live. If we hear the PA announcer doing play-by-play, it's an USC on the home team.

Edit: I missed another one about the band. Same rule applies to the bands. They cannot be playing during live ball, or USC against offending team (usually home team because not very many visiting teams can afford to drag their band along!).

The University of Georgia has a radio play-by-play man that is an institution down here, Larry Munson. A great number of play-by-play announcers try to emulate him. That being said, there is one particular PA at a school down here that just thinks he is the next Larry Munson. He will always try to do the play-by-play from the press box. I've gotten to know the guy fairly well over the years and anytime I am assigned a game at that school I make it a point to go and visit with the PA announcer before the game. At that time I remind him that as a PA announcer he is obligated to be neutral and to only deliver pertinent information to the crowd. I remind him that if I hear any Munsonesque comments from him that it will cost the home team. That usually keeps him under control. I've been told by other referees that he tries to do it at every game. He doesn't do it to be contrary, he just gets wrapped up in the game.

The PA announcer is a part of the officiating crew just like the stat guy (another thread) and the chain crew; therefore, the situation was handled correctly. I had a situation a few years ago where I had the visiting team have a fan to stop blowing his air horn. It sounded like the end of the quarter signal and was creating a confusion. I only allowed the fan to "sound off" after a touchdown. In the band situation, the rule book does not cover this situation; however, two years ago, I had the home team ask me to have the band quit playing during plays and it was the home band making all the noise.

Several years ago in a JV game, there was a spectator sitting on the home team side with a bullhorn who, when the visitors had the ball, was directing the defense verbally with pass, sweep right, etc.

At my request, the home team coach put a stop to that PDQ.

REPLY: I don't agree tha the PA guy is "...part of the officiating crew." Neither is the stat guy. The PA guy specifically is more accurately a member of the game administration "crew" more closely and directly accountable to the AD than to the Referee. That said, I agree that the R was well within his jurisdiction to "straighten him out."