Bean bag. blue or white?

[KBAustria]

Originally Posted by bossman72

Sorry for chiming in with the stupid question, but do the bean bags really have any practical use? I know it's used to mark where the ball was fumbled or where a kick was caught/touched among other things that i'm not totally sure of, but why do those need marked?


ps- i'll be occasionally popping in with very basic questions since i'm considering going into football officiating in a couple years. i just want to get a little bit of a jump on the rules and mechanics (just baby steps though).

In NCAA rules, EVERY fumble spot needs a bean bag, because the ball could be returned to this spot if the ball goes out of bounds in advance of that spot.
Also, if a team A fumble in a 4th down is recovered by a team A player other than the fumbler, the ball becomes dead at the spot of the fumble.

[FootballRef05]

NFHS in White only here in NY. When I work JC games we use Blue.

[Tom.OH]

Sure in the NFL the blue bean bag is easy to spot. How about on the poorly lit fields some high school games are played on. You know the 4 light stands with 4 burned out bulbs each. Some times I have a hard time finding my white bag and I make a mental note on what yard lind I dropped it. Just my 2 cents.

[irefky]

We can use either, but we must use the same color in a given game.

NAIA, we use blue.