Clock status
 

A 4th and 10. B intercepts on A's 15. during the return B fumbles. A recovers.
do we start clock on the ready or on the snap?

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

• Before the 3-minute warning
  • On the ready, because the clock, if stopped, always starts on the ready, except after a timeout or time count foul, in which case the clock starts on the snap
• After the 3-minute warning
  • On the snap, because after the 3MW, a COP is one of the 7 events that cause the clock to start on the snap for the next play

What is a time count foul? (I know it is Canadian, I'm just curious.)

Assuming the play ended in-bounds...

A-B-A - Ready for Play.

It starts on the RFP since the final result of the play was A being awarded a new series, correct?

Offense gets 20 seconds from the WH's whistle to put the ball into play or they get whacked with a "time count violation". 5 yard penalty down repeated except in the last three minutes of 2nd and 4th quarter.

If time count occurs then, it's a loss of down on 1st and 2nd down, or a 10 yard penalty if it's third down.

It's all part of the effort to keep players from freezing to death....20 seconds keeps everybody moving, eh?

AKA, delay of game, with different enforcement. Thanks!

But it's not exactly comparable to the 25 seconds they get in Fed or NCAA. Your 20 secs. don't start until the wing officials "close the gates" against substitution, while in the USA the ball may be readied for play irrespective of substitutions.

I'd like to point out that well into the 1980s (maybe the 1990s) the time count penalty applied only to scrimmage plays in CFL & CAFA. Kickoffs were governed only by general (And for a long time unwritten!) rules against delay of game.

And would you believe that at one time in USAn rules the only fouls specifying a length of time as "delay of game" was a limit of 15 secs. for a huddle and forfeiting for failing to play within 2 mins. after a warning?

Robert

Just to clarify, the 20 second count in three down ball begins on the WH's whistle, which will sound when he is satisfied the offence has all of it's players in or near the huddle. The "gates" will then usually go up when the huddle breaks and the offense is approaching the ball, normally five or ten seconds later.

In lower levels of ball, if the offence is still in it's huddle 10 seconds after the whistle, we'll normally start counting down from 10 to hurry them up....usually works. If they just don't get it, we'll tag 'em.

Couple of years ago I was doing a Bantam game (14/15 year olds), and I must have nailed this one team six or seven times for time count in the first half. At the start of the second half, the quarterback says, "Hey ref, what's with this new hurry up stuff, that 30 seconds seems to be going by awfully quickly!".

Needless to say, the lad learned something new that day....

HH is correct, of course.

I've had a few times where the 3D 10-yard penalty took a FGK out of range.

My friend Dave even had the diamonds to call this foul in a regional semi-final: it took the FGK out of range and the kicker missed the FGA.