Team Refuses to Play

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Ref Ump Welsch

Your state associations SHOULD have some kind of procedure laid out for you in sits like this. Nebraska and Iowa both tell their officials, if the coach refuses to put his team out on the field, the R is supposed to talk to the coach, remind him that refusal to play is a forfeiture,

Is "refusal to play" (i.e. not appearing ready, not having players on the field, or simply saying so) a forfeiture by team B under conditions other than the resumption-of-play situations Fed instituted a few years ago? That is, if the ball is readied for play in most situations (not coming out of a time out, not preliminary to a free kick), where does it say team B needs to be ready or to do anything? AFAICT, they're just playing short -- by 11 players -- which is legal. AFAICT, because the try isn't one of those resumption-of-play situations, allowing team A to snap unopposed is correct. It's only after the completion of the try that you first get a situation where the rules positively require both teams to be ready, and by that time the protesting team may have cooled off.

Robert

I'm just telling what was outlined in the officials manuals. It's a generic procedure, and from what we have been told, it pretty much overrides any resumption-of-play conditions. We even have to follow the procedure for basketball and any other sport. The interpretation is that the coach MUST have someone on the field/court otherwise it's considered refusal to play.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Robert...For me 'refusal to play' would require a declaration by the head coach that he is not planning on having his team return to the field--and that declaration would be made to the referee with at least one other official witnessing the declaration. This has nothing to do with resumption of play or anything. It simply means that he's willing to have the game end with a forfeit. Simply not being ready should result in a DOG foul. Refusing to play is something much more than that. And as I mentioned earlier, I would never blow the ready for play when Team A is on the field and Team B is not. Step 1: DOG against Team B; Step 2: Order Team B to return to the field at the same time telling the coach that rule 3-6-3 will allow me to forfeit the game if he doesn't comply within 2 minutes; Step 3: Start the two minute clock (on my watch of course); Step 4: Warn the coach when he has 30 seconds left (not required; just a courtesy); Step 5: Raise the ball over my head declaring the game forfeited; Step 6: Go home

If a coach refuses to return his team to the field, I don't know what else you could do--short of begging.

I agree with Bob. If there's a timeout, and the team is slow to come back out and the coach makes no indication that they're refusing to play, we'll blow the ready for play. If there's some kind of timeout or dead ball, and the coach verbally says we're not coming out, then we'll use the forfeiture process I outlined in an earlier post.