I went to a rules interp. meeting last night and I am now totally confused!

Can a PLAYER, leave the field on the wrong side or through the end zone? Consider a player who thinks he is the 12th, but is not, so he runs off on the wrong side. Legal? Does it matter if he returns?

The case book says that he can (3.7.3 Situation A page 27). The NFHS Football Guide 2005 says he can't (play 2 page 4).

I need help! The case book says legal if not done to gain an advantage. They say that he is not a replaced player or substitute. However, PLAYER has been added to rule 3.7.2 now. The Football Guide says that it is illegal. Anybody received a clarification. Even our interpreter wasn't clear.

I've been doing this almost 20 years.

I have yet to see a player run off on the wrong side of the field.

Is this a common occurrence everywhere else?

I haven't seen it either, but it must or no need for a rule change. At any rate, I am confused about the new interpretation.

I believe the case book is in error on this. They changed the rule this year but forgot to change the case book to match the new rule. We should see a correction on this later. By rule, this is illegal substituion.

Canadian Mechanic
 

If we see a player has exited a side of the field that is not his sideline, we are to blow the play dead (obviously only if before the snap) and allow him to exit properly.

[Edited by JugglingReferee on Aug 10th, 2005 at 10:56 AM]

We were told last night that this case book play is an error. It is illegal for a player to exit over the wrong sideline. It is legal for a player to exit from the end zone on his sideline, but not over the end line.

I understand what you're saying. The new IP/IS rules are flat out wrong in many cases. I just wondered if anyone else was seeing this or if it's a "just in case" type thing.

For a complete list of Rules and Case book errors, check this link out.
http://www.nfhs.org/scriptcontent/va...Footer=FB_FOOT

Doesn't happen here, if he leaves on the wrong side I'm sure the other team will take care of it, what do I need to penalize him for. :D