Tripping the Runner

[Ed Hickland]

Oakland Raiders - KC Chiefs today. Larry Nemmers calls Oakland player for tripping the runner QB, Trent Green.

Not an NFHS rule. Why does the NFL prohibit it?

[TXMike]

I suspect because it can be very dangerous and when you are talking about those big bucks players, nobody wants them takn out.

[Texoma_LJ]

I was wondering the same play... now I know high school coaches will recite NFL rules, is this a case of watching an NFL game and reciting HS rules??

The QB was the runner (had posession of the ball) at the time the call was made.

[booker227]

No penalty for tripping, but since tripping an opponent doesn't meet any of the legal criteria as in 9-2-1/3 couldn't you flag for an illegal block on offense 9-2-c and illegal use of the "hands" on defense. (don't laugh at the obvious, but read 9-3-c)

[Robert Goodman]

The software called my att'n to this "similar thread":

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

Oakland Raiders - KC Chiefs today. Larry Nemmers calls Oakland player for tripping the runner QB, Trent Green.

Not an NFHS rule. Why does the NFL prohibit it?

It was a longstanding rule in football that NFL inherited from NCAA, dating from the 19th Century, so it's actually pre-NCAA. It's only relatively recently that any of the codes allowed tripping the runner.

I remember when NCAA amended the definition of "tripping" to allow it, around 25 years ago IIRC. At that time I wondered the opposite of the above question: why would NCAA want to allow this? Fed must've changed more recently than that.

The basic idea behind the rule disallowing it is that tripping is too cheap a way to bring down a runner, and also that shin-on-shin contact is bruising. Similarly to Greco-Roman wrestling, for a brief period in the 19th Century rugby football forbade any form of tackling below the waist, and American football inherited that rule, although both codes soon re-allowed it. (American football went thru a brief period of allowing tackling only above the knees; Canadian football stuck to the prohibition against tackling below the waist considerably longer.) Rugby had been coming out of a period in which "hacking over" a runner -- basically leg-whipping or karate-kicking him down -- had been allowed, and they were trying to live that era down. So tripping ws forbidden at the same time hacking was.

So don't get the idea this was some innovation on NFL's part!

Robert

[HossHumard]

Tripping is still a no-no in the GWN. Rule 7, Article 4, "Tripping is the intentional use of the lower leg or foot to obstruct any opponent below the knee". 10 yard penalty, eh?

I think the penalty has more to do with concerns about a beaver gnawing on your foot if you lay it flat to trip the ball carrier though....just a hunch.....

[Bob M.]

REPLY: When I began officiating, tripping the runner was illegal in Fed as well. They changed the rule to allow tripping of the runner in 1981.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Bob M.

REPLY: When I began officiating, tripping the runner was illegal in Fed as well. They changed the rule to allow tripping of the runner in 1981.

Why do you think they made that change? Was it to get rid of a difficult call? It was a rare one. I'm guessing umpires didn't like looking down & deciding whether a player's foot placement was for support (especially in contact with an opponent) or to trip.

However, since that change was made I have been surprised how few players took advantage of it. I expected a lot of feet to be stuck out.

Robert

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Why do you think they made that change? Was it to get rid of a difficult call? It was a rare one. I'm guessing umpires didn't like looking down & deciding whether a player's foot placement was for support (especially in contact with an opponent) or to trip.

However, since that change was made I have been surprised how few players took advantage of it. I expected a lot of feet to be stuck out.

Robert

REPLY: Here's what the Federation said in their Comments on the 1981 Rules Revisions:

"Previously, it was not legal to clip any opponent except the runner or to trip any oppponent. The revision makes it legal to clip or trip the runner, but no other opponent. The committee agreed that if a runner could be blocked or tackled from behind, it should not be illegal to trip him."

Short and sweet.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

Oakland Raiders - KC Chiefs today. Larry Nemmers calls Oakland player for tripping the runner QB, Trent Green.

Not an NFHS rule. Why does the NFL prohibit it?

In the GWN, tripping is a 10 yard penalty.

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

In the GWN, tripping is a 10 yard penalty.

For a second there I thought he was gonna say two minutes!