Video play

[Snake~eyes]

What do you guys think?

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/296556...dles_defender/

[TXMike]

It was a HS game in Texas. Perfectly legal.

[JugglingReferee]

Legal in the Great White North.

[iceman70]

OMG, it is still alive!

Perfectly legal under NCAA rules, and technically illegal under NFHS rules. IOW, unless the person being hurdled…er…I mean “jumped over” is standing completely upright and gets plowed into by the “jumper” (actually, any solid contact will do), hold your flag. Remember that there is absolutely no advantage gained for the runner to jump over a defender, and safety isn’t an issue unless somebody gets hurt.

[Theisey]

Must be a net problem as the video does not come up.

Is this then by any chance this same play? Hurdling call???

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by iceman70

...IOW, unless the person being hurdled…er…I mean “jumped over” is standing completely upright and gets plowed into by the “jumper” (actually, any solid contact will do), hold your flag. Remember that there is absolutely no advantage gained for the runner to jump over a defender, and safety isn’t an issue unless somebody gets hurt.

REPLY: I respectfully disagree. Safety-related fouls are not flagged only when a player gets hurt. They're flagged at anytime. They're flagged to discourage a behavior that can easily lead to someone getting hurt. Just what do you think your legal liability would be if you let this go in a game because no one was hurt and then later in the same game another player tried it and his knee knocked out his opponent who ended up in the hospital?

And the defender in the posted video was clearly standing pretty much upright.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by Bob M.

REPLY: I respectfully disagree. Safety-related fouls are not flagged only when a player gets hurt. They're flagged at anytime. They're flagged to discourage a behavior that can easily lead to someone getting hurt. Just what do you think your legal liability would be if you let this go in a game because no one was hurt and then later in the same game another player tried it and his knee knocked out his opponent who ended up in the hospital?

And the defender in the posted video was clearly standing pretty much upright.

You could also have a case where a player is hit on a play but the injury isn't diagnosed until much later.

[Oregon Official]

That's definitely a Hurdle, but is it illegal??

Took me a bit to find it, but I did. Rule 9-4-3d..... "No player or nonplayer shall hurdle an opponent." 15 yards... Personal Foul.(S38)

I don't think you can argue that the video doesn't show a "Hurdle".

[iceman70]

Bob,

I actually agree with you and would have considered this a hurdle IAW 9-4-3d. This has been discussed before and there were some that felt that hurdling shouldn't be called unless there is contact, etc. I should have used the smilie to let posters know that I was speaking with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by iceman70

Bob,

I actually agree with you and would have considered this a hurdle IAW 9-4-3d. This has been discussed before and there were some that felt that hurdling shouldn't be called unless there is contact, etc. I should have used the smilie to let posters know that I was speaking with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

REPLY: Whew, that's a relief. I thought you'd gone over to the dark side!