Wording on the Field

[With_Two_Flakes]

Originally Posted by SWFLguy

I'm a very vocal guy who believes that using a strong voice can go a long way to prevent problems........
"ball is away" (on a pass crossing the LOS)
"kick is away" (on a scrimmage kick passing the LOS)

I'm pretty vocal on the field too, and encourage my crew to be the same. Before we leave the locker room, I always say to them to let the players know we are out there - stripey shirt, stripey socks, STRIPEY VOICE!!

Jerry Grunska (who for many years was one of the Football columnists for REFEREE magazine) came to Great Britain a few years ago to give a football officials training clinic. He worked a British game as Umpire with my crew and one of the many things he spoke to me about after the game was my "ball is away" calls. He was pleased that I was using such a preventative officiating technique (that I picked up from a US Airforce official) but suggested that instead of the word "Away", I use the word "Gone".

His reasoning was that "GONE!" had a hard edge to it compared to the wishy-washy sound of "awaaaaay....". A small point I know, but I thought I'd share it.