Delay of game

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

CANADIAN RULING:

B should not have to decline this foul, since they will benefit from A's worse field position

No, they still might decline it because they may be willing to sacrifice 1 point for field position should A's punt reach the goal line.

Against a kicker who's good at hitting the corner in any code, you should never decline that penalty because it just puts them closer to their target. However, some teams don't have anyone with that accuracy -- they have one kind of punt, and if they try for the corner or to shorten it they might get an outright shank -- and if you know the other team's kicker is like that, then you should take the penalty, provided you aren't bothered by the chance they'll reach the line to gain, and provided that in Canadian football you can afford that 1 point.

Heh -- think they won't go for it, so you don't have to worry about their reaching the line to gain? What if they do punt, and a penalty against you from the previous spot puts them beyond it? So there are lots of reasons to take the penalty, but it's still not an obvious choice.

Robert