Chain Crew

[fonzzy07]

Hey guys as i have said I am a player. I never blame an official for loosing a game or for any mistakes, just woundering how you would handle this. We had a situation come up last nightball starts on the 20 yrd line. after 2 incomplete passes it becomes 3-10. They complet a pass and the official marks the ball at the 28 yardline, however somehow it is a yard past the sticks. My coach is screaming like crazy that they have the chains loose. It however is to late as the official told the crew to move. Sure enought the official comes over after that to check the chains and has them pull them tight and wow they grow by 2 yards. What if anything do you do to keep an eye on the chain crew. Also if a coach came to you and said hey, we kicked the ball into the endzone so theystarted at the 20 and they are now at the 28 shouldnt they have to reach the 30 for a first down, what would you do.

[garwood8499]

The referee has the authority to correct obvious errors. From what you describe, I believe this certainly falls into that category. He should have the chains pulled tight and make the 30-yard line the line-to-gain. This will cause the home coach to scream, in which he should tell him that the A.D. can find 3 people who will work the chains in an unbiased way.

The linesman should be constantly working with the chain crew, but can't always see if they'd pulled it tight.

Also, if your coach felt the referee wasn't clear on what had happened, he does have the ability to take a time out and choose, instead of talking to the team, to discuss the situation with the referee.

Hope this didn't cost your team the game....

[fonzzy07]

Hope this didn't cost your team the game....[/QUOTE]
Well I cant say it cost us the game. In my mind officials can never cause you to loose the game. It was definetly a big moment in the game and may have given us one more shot to get are field goal from great field postition.

[Texas Aggie]

I can't quite understand how this would happen absent some sort of deliberate attempt or other information that's not presented here (like a play where the chain crew had to drop and move). The biggest problem I've had with chain crews is when they move too early on a play that went downfield and we have a penalty.

In varsity games, we use young officials as the chain crew, so these types of problems are rare.

[fonzzy07]

Well the reason this could not be corrected because the ref and i can not blame him seeing it was past the stick signaled first down and thats when my coach went crazy. however the line judge had singeled move the chainsso they slightly moved before are coach got a hold of the ref since the linejudge would not stop, we even asked for a mesurement but he ignored us. sorry for leaving that out.

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Originally Posted by fonzzy07

Well the reason this could not be corrected because the ref and i can not blame him seeing it was past the stick signaled first down and thats when my coach went crazy. however the line judge had singeled move the chainsso they slightly moved before are coach got a hold of the ref since the linejudge would not stop, we even asked for a mesurement but he ignored us. sorry for leaving that out.

Given the situation as you describe it, this is still a correctable error, since the chain should be clipped on the 25. The chains can then be reset correctly.

Now, it may be that there was just a knot in the chain - it does happen sometimes. But this feels awfully fishy to me.

[fonzzy07]

what do you mean ofully fishy?

[HLin NC]

As a HL it is very difficult to keep an eye on the chains during play as they are behind me for the most part. I am in much greater contact with the box man. It should be noticed between downs after setting the box that the chain isn't tight. Chain crews are advised in pre-game to alert us if there is a problem with the chains or people in their way.

However, somebody in the crew, usually the umpire- should have had the bell go off "hey we started at the 20 and we aren't at the 30 yet".

If this happened as described, the mistake is probably a white hat trying to work too fast a pace or a HL not paying attention to his chain.

[waltjp]

If the line to gain marker was off by 2 yards there's definately a problem. The Linesman should noticed that there was a problem.

To the other extream I've seen assistant coaches complain that the chain wasn't pulled tight. This often happens when the clip is put on the chain and results in a slight wave. I repeatedly told the coach that it wasn't a problem but he kept complaining about it. I finally kicked the far marker to stretch the chain until it was tight. The marker probably moved about 2 chain lengths. I promised him that if the ball ever got that close that we'd measure it.

[Forksref]

Where's the linesman in all of this?