A situation was discussed at our officials meeting. During a time out, the QB went to the side line and talked with the coach between the inbound lines and side lines. One offensive coach brought water for the rest of the team and was obviously coaching. 1. Preventative officiating. The Official that noticed this went to the coach and informed him that if the QB went back in that huddle, it would cost them a penalty. 2. A significant number at the meeting felt the official went too far and should not have warned the coach. I believe any time you can prevent a penalty you do. What are your thoughts?

That's why attendants are to bring water out. I don't feel that the official was out of line. I would have done the same thing. This team probably gets away with this all the time.

Your right. This was the third game of the season and the official recieved the "I've been doing this all along" phrase but did not put up much fuss. He replaced his QB for one play and never did it again the rest of the game.

"I've been doing this all season."

This is one thing that really bothers me when the rules are not totally enforced consistently. The previous crews were wrong, if they did not enforce the conference rule. Now, the crew on the field that night is doing it's job. There are two things we don't know. 1. Have they really been doing that all season? 2. And, did the other crews notice?

I would have warned the head coach and made him aware of the action and that it would be penalized if it happened again in the game. Then at the next meeting of the officials association bring up the subject so that other officials know this happened.

On the same note. Last season a coach reported to me that number 84 was his tackle and that it was OK last week. I told him get another number between 50 and 79. Three weeks later another official reported we had made a mistake allowing 84 as a tackle. This crew had flagged the team and the coach said he had been doing it all season long.

And, in this final junior high game last season, I noticed the kicker was barefoot. When I approached him two players said he had been doing it all season. Of course, I become the bad guy for doing my job. Junior high players usually have not learned the finer secrets like "we have been doing it all" so I firmly believe the other guys did not do their job.

Sometimes our job is to be the "bad guy". I don't like it when there is inconsistency in the rules, but until every official learns every rule (i.e. - never), there will be inconsistencies. My thought is that my crew can only control the things WE see, and there isn't much we can do about what a team has done or has or hasn't been penalized prior to, or after, we work their game.