Bizarre final game of the season (maybe ever) for me today.

Junior high game on an 80-yard field. 40 is midfield. The school just can't fit more than an 80-yard field on their campus. Not only that, but it's in a bowl and the ends curl up, so in one end zone, you're going uphill from about the four yard line on in, and in the other end zone, the slope up starts right around the goal line.

So they've dealt with it for years. We're going to move PAT tries (no goalposts, either, so no kicks) to the 12 1/2 and pretend the 10 is the goal line just for PATs. Kick off from the 30 instead of the 40.

First kickoff of the game goes into the end zone (and up the hill) and the referee (two-man game) says we're going to bring touchbacks to the 10 instead of the 20 because of the short field. Fair enough. Both coaches seem okay with it. They both got at least one go their way, so whatever.

Third quarter, kid snaps a punt up the hill and out of the end zone for a safety. Free kick at the 20, right? We started to line them up that way, and one coach said "We've been doing touchbacks from the 10, why not kick from the 10 after a safety?" Sounded reasonable to me. Referee went with it. Nobody complained. One team won 33-8 anyway and it wasn't a big deal.

Anybody ever have to deal with an 80-yard field (or something less than regulation)?

They have played there for years, but they do not have a proticol for how TB's and so on work. Do they just let whoever the R is decide how to handle the field? Odd!
The free kick following a safety cannot score points anyway, but I think that is not what you are asking. Only a free kick following a fair catch, or awarded fair catch can score 3 points for K. 52 yards is the longest in our area this year.

No, I was just wondering if it made sense, since we started the next series after a touchback from the 10 instead of the 20 because of the short field, to have the free kick after the safety from the 10 instead of the 20. One coach suggested it, and the other was up 27-8 at that point, so he wasn't concerned.

Minnesota 9-man games used to be played on 80 yard long, 40 yard wide fields until about 5/6 years ago. From what I remember, free kicks were still taken from their normal yard lines.

The only real difference was that we only had 5 and 10 yard penalties, no 15 yarders. Those were marked off at 10 yards.

Some of the fields are still only 40 yards wide which makes being a back judge real easy.

And I thought the field I played on in junior high was bad. It is a full 100 yards (supposedly, although I've always wondered) with no end lines, just a fence in the back of the end zones. The goal posts are right up next to the fence; of course, in the last 20 years there MIGHT have been 5 extra point kicks attempted on that field.

The south end zone also has a tree growing in it that is in play. And the fans from the visitors' side of the field have to walk through that end zone to get to the concession stand and restrooms.

Of course, since I'm from a part of West Tennessee where there are NO hills to speak of, I never had to deal with something like you're talking about. Sounds interesting, though.

First, I remember before the season you asked a bunch of good questions. You seem to have enjoyed the year. Any reason why you might not be coming back? Hopefully nothing that you can't overcome.
My wife likes to tell me I'm done at the end of each year, but she doesn't REALLY mean it (yet).

Here in Germany our youth (flag football) games can be played on a shortened field. We would play from 1 goal line to the other 20. PAT's and FG are moved in tot he correct position though. Also the chain is set to 8 yards instead of 10 (so that the kids don't have to go so far) - 1/10 of the field of play.
I've only reffed on a field like that once, and the difficult thing to keep in mind, is that penalties are reduced as well - for a 10 yard penalty you walk off 8.

James

I have had the experience of using an 80 yard field for 9-10 year old games for the past 5 years. The rules are basically the same but the penalty enforcement is different. Instead of fifteen yard penalties, we only give ten yarders. All kickoffs are from the prospective 30 yard lines. All kicks after a safety are from the 20 yard line. The only reason we kept it at the 20 was because at this level, most of the kids couldn't kick the ball more than 20 or 30 yards anyways. As long as the rules are laid out before the game, placement of kicks and penalty enforcement, the game itself should be able to play itself.

I'm just disgusted with myself. I barked at a kid yesterday and I shouldn't have. It was unprofessional and I'm beside myself about it. Man, I made some mistakes as a rookie. Good thing this was my last game of the season, I didn't want anything to do with myself or officiating last night.

Our 6-man football teams (including varsity HS) use 80-yard fields, kick from the 30, TB at the 20, freekick after safety from the 20.

This field sounds like the dimensions for an 8-man field also. Kickoff from the 30. Touchbacks and safeties from the 15. Specs for the 80 yard field are in the back of the rules book, page 80.

School should write up special rules for this field and present them to the officials and coaches before each game. If everyone knows what will be done then there won't be much problem.