Illegal equipment

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by FeetBallRef

Does the Coach get tagged for allowing his player to be illegally equipped on the field of play, it's pretty obvious what happened?

Rule 9.8.1.h Failure of the head coach, following verification, to have his player(s) wear or use legal and/or required equipment.

Egads this is a huge stretch.

There's a huge difference between "Having his players wear legal and required equipment" and having his players also wear illegal equipment.

Failure to wear what is necessary is a huge deal (buttpads, kneepads, helmets, etc), and a coach allowing his kids to violate this SHOULD be punished under the listed rule. A kid having something extraneous that he's not supposed to have out there is a completely different thing - which we should not be punishing the coach for ... especially for something like a striped towel.

[waltjp]

Just another reason to be diligent before the game and have all the players remove illegal equipment.

[FeetBallRef]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Egads this is a huge stretch.
There's a huge difference between "Having his players wear legal and required equipment" and having his players also wear illegal equipment.
Failure to wear what is necessary is a huge deal (buttpads, kneepads, helmets, etc), and a coach allowing his kids to violate this SHOULD be punished under the listed rule. A kid having something extraneous that he's not supposed to have out there is a completely different thing - which we should not be punishing the coach for ... especially for something like a striped towel.

If B's coach points it out, you are stuck enforcing the rules unless you want to tell B's coach that you aren't going to enforce that rule today.

Rule 1 Sec. 5 Art. 3... Illegal equipment. No player shall participate while wearing illegal equipment. This applies to any equipment, which in the opinion of the umpire is dangerous, confusing or inappropriate. Illegal equipment shall always include but is not limited to:

k. Uniform adornments, with the exception of one unmarked moisture-absorbing white towel, which shall be no less than 4 inches in width and 12 inches in length and no greater than 18 inches in width and 36 inches in length...

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Mike...I usually agree with you, but I really can't this time on two counts: (1) When the coach verifies that his players are legally equipped, he is verifying that they are wearing all the required equipment and that they are not wearing any illegal equipment, and (2) the rule applies to 'players' and not just to players during a down. If a substitute shows up and replaces a player, he becomes a player. If before the snap he is noticed to be wearing illegal equipment or not wearing required equipment, he's just as guilty as the guy wearing that stuff during a down in progress.

Was this coach being a petty jerk? Sure
Did he put the referee in a awkward predicament? Yep
Will his coach-referee conference stand up? It should
Should a foul be called? If the kid's still on the field, yes.
Would I want to be in that ref's shoes? Not on your life.

[mikesears]

I really don't like coaches who do this.

Maybe he was a former drill instructer and he is anal about uniform rules.



A coach who does this may start a tit-for-tat exchange. Imagine now if the other coach calls you over for a conference and states that one of the lineman on the other team doesn't have his shirt tucked in. Or a player's sweat band is too far up the wrist, or the other coach isn't holding an authorized conference, or they have too many coaches in the box, or the coach is coming onto the field to call plays, etc.

I'm with Bob. I wouldn't want to be running that game.

[waltjp]

Coach of home team complains the a visiting player is wearing illegal equipment, in our example, a towel with a stripe. Officials looks and, sure enough, there's a player with towel with a stripe on it.

Flag thrown.

Official now inspects home team and finds... an untucked shirt or a sweatband out of place or an unbuckled chin strap, etc.

Flag thrown.

Okay guys, now we're even. Can we play football?

Not an enviable position to be in.

[MJT]

You would need to have a flag after the conference, but that is BS on the coaches part and I'm letting him know he better not have anyone with any equipment issues or things are going to even out in a hurry.

[grantsrc]

Talk about fly poop in pepper. This takes the cake. I would ask the coach if he would like me to flag him for something similar to that or if he would rather I ask his player to remove the towel and save the 15 yards. I hate playing the fashion police.

[FeetBallRef]

Originally Posted by waltjp

Coach of home team complains the a visiting player is wearing illegal equipment, in our example, a towel with a stripe. Officials looks and, sure enough, there's a player with towel with a stripe on it. Flag thrown.

Official now inspects home team and finds... an untucked shirt or a sweatband out of place or an unbuckled chin strap, etc. Flag thrown.
Okay guys, now we're even. Can we play football?
Not an enviable position to be in.

Great way to handle that one.

[jjrye22]

I completely agree with MJT and Grant.
I would seriously question the coach if he thought it was in the best interest of the game to make an issue - and that I would then make issues of EVERYTHING I see from his team.

I had something similar this year already. A player (who seemed to also be a ref) on the sideline was complaining about the opponent's center picking up and turning the ball to adjust it instead of keeping it on the ground. I told him that I was not going to get into such small time issues and would continue to let the game play - that it was a non-issue.
2 plays later A fumbled on the opposite sideline in the backfield, and on my way to the backfield I passed a player wandering on the field from my sideline (he obviously thought the play was dead, but it wasn't at that time). There was no interference or real problem, but I turned to the complainer (who was right behind this player and pointed out I also didn't nit-pick this illegal participation.

Try to keep it even and evaluate why something is important. I'm trying to focus on only flaging the big stuff instead of the letter of the law (I was more than a little too strict in the past).

James