Do any of you chart/keep track of penalties for HS varsity games? This would be something the officials on the field would keep track of. Just curious because I know they do that at the college level. I wonder if there would be any benefit to doing this.

charting penalties
 

Back when I was calling games in Texas we charted the penalties and reports were forwarded on the NCAA form. I think the rules commitee rolled up al the reports for part of their review.

Dont know if they still do this but I believe they do

We do keep track of them down around Wichita at the biggest levels. One league requires reports sent in after their games showing all the fouls and also an official's report on both teams covering sportsmanship. Because crews do this for certain games we also do them for the rest of the season. This way when a coach calls the league commissioner about have 15 yards marked off against him for his first sideline warning you can refute his complaint with your list showing his sideline warning had no yardage marked off but the facemask on the next play was a 15 yarder. We had two games this year where another official walked the sidelines keeping the fouls for us. But in the other games the back judge kept them.

Just is suggestion, if you are ever going to do that buy a small digital recorder an let the BJ use that. It is pretty hard to write down everything between plays and keep it readable.

Yes. The BJ usually carries a microcassette recorder and record the team, number of the player, foul and calling official.

i usually have my eco write down the details on the ncaa form. i am currently using a mp3 player. it is smaller and easier to use than a microcassette recorder. interesting to see someone else out there is doing it though.

While other sections of the state (there are many here) could be, I can say that two sections I work games in do not chart nor report back up the line any fouls. Only ejections are reported back for obvious reasons.

For D2/D3 level NCAA games, we have a chain crew member filling in this information on an NCAA form at every game. His input comes from the H and sometimes the S.

This is what we do in CO. If we have an 8 man game we have the LJ do it. When I am the back judge I like to add a little joke here and there or say "A questionable call by the white hat" Since he is the one that goes home and fills the game report out. They get a kick out of it!

For HS varsity we chart all penalties on a triplicate carbon form immediately after the game and deliver copies to each head coach, preferably before they leave the game site, and the original to the assignor. It's great when an official who is off that evening comes to fill out the form on the sideline during the game and we can catch the coaches leaving the field.

My only problem with this is it really stinks if you have to hand it to a coach whose 'list' is much longer than the other coach's list.

We don't chart penalties. We have talked about recording 'majors,' but we have yet to actually do that. When we have someone observing us (or one day when we had an extra official for the chains) they will record our fouls. I guess, at this level, I can't see too much of a reason to record every penalty. Definitely for USC's, and I guess I could maybe see it for other 15 yarders, but not for every false start, encroachment, etc.

On my regular crew, our BJ has been writing the fouls down all year. Before the last game the referee asked him if he thought it would be easier if he had a small recorder to record fouls. The BJ said he would like that. So before we were going to leave for the last game the R brought it out and let the BJ start learning how to use it. Right then I looked down and saw the BJ had a cell phone on his belt. I said, "Well you could have just called home on every foul and left the info on your answering machine." They all got a big laugh out of that and the R said he could have saved $40 if I had thought of that earlier. Then the BJ shows us what he might look like in the middle of the field holding his phone in the air trying to get a signal and yelling to the R to not blow the RFP yet because he hasn't finished his call yet.

Was he wearing his phone on the field?!? I hope he is either a Dr., expecting a baby, emergency personnel, or something important because I think that would look extremely tacky!

We weren't even at the school yet. We were still in street clothes. I wouldn't wear a phone or pager on the field even if I thought my wife might go into labor during the game. My son was born two years ago today and in the weeks preceeding that I did leave my pager on in the lockerroom so that I would know she was trying to get ahold of me but I wouldn't have been able to leave early. We all drove in one car.

We don't here in MT for regular season and the first rounds of playoffs. I am an alternate for a Chipper on Saturday and absent an injured crewmember, I will spend the game charting fouls for the crew on the field. Bridesmaid? Maybe, but heck it's better than not working at all.

By the by, I will be collecting banana peels through Friday for those who have a spare.

Hey, Warren, give me the initials of your guy that bought the recorder, this is starting to sound like someone I know in your area...

If we have a good clock guy I ask him to chart them.