More Coin Toss
 

In the KC-DEN NFL game Sunday, the Broncos won the toss and elected to receive. When the referee announced the Broncos won the toss, KC captains just walked off the field and the referee had to yell at them to get their attention to ask them which goal to defend.

Have you ever had a situation where, for whatever reason, a team failed to properly take care of business at the coin toss. I'm not talking about the "we'll kick" option. I'm talking about just simply not being able to follow instructions or not being able/willing to participate in the coin toss, or running off the field before the coin toss was over. What did you do? I see no rule covering that scenario.

PS--its a pet peeve of mine for NFL captains to run off the field and not line up for the final signal from the referee.

No, I think high school and college players are smarter.
That being said, I'd not let them leave should they do something stupid like that.

I had one years ago in a Pop Warner game...

2nd half Captain's meeting. Team B (behind in the score) sent only one captain. Team A sent four. The choices are made, the players swing around, the referee signals and says "All right men, shake hands and bring your teams out for the 2nd half". The team B captain looks at us, looks at A, turns and leaves.

Head Ref throws his flag and signals USC on the captain and we administer on the kickoff.

Being a young official at the time, I asked what rule he was administering in that situation...

Rule 9.5.1g "Refusing to comply with an official’s request."

REPLY: Now IMHO that's ridiculous!

I don't think so. I think it's perfectly appropriate.

REPLY: That's why I added "IMHO." I never meant it to be a dogmatic statement. We may all have different opinions on this one.

Amen. Those officials are going to see 28 things in the second half more unsportsmanlike than not shaking hands and won't call any of them. And then the officials had to go to the sideline to explain themselves and told the coach, "Well your captain wouldn't shake hands with the other captains." I'll bet that went over well.

It's a Pop Warner game. Don't tolerate ANY USC.

Gotta vote with Bob on this one, but I'd probably go over to the coach and mention that it was not sportsmanlike and itneeds to be corrected.

I believe that a second, quick, firm request is in order here. At the Pop Warner level, I'm guessing the kid probably just wasn't listening to you.

If he clearly willfully ignores the second request, then yes, I'd say flag this at the PW level or junior-high level. By the time they're in HS, if they haven't learned class, we're not going to be able to teach it to them in one game anyway. (Says the HS teacher, sadly enough.)

I agree with TRUmpire that the kid probably did not listen well to your request. If you work with kids everyday, as I do being a teacher, the can be looking at you square in the eye and not hear a word you are saying. Often they are not being beligerant, just have their mind in "la la land." Talk to the coach if you want, but do not flag it unless the kid says "forget that" or something indicating he heard you and is just being a jerk.