Team Refuses to Play
 

I am just a sports fan that reads this forum to have a better knowledge of the game.

A sit. from a HS game played under NF rules. Team A fumbles and B recovers and returns for TD. A flag, on B, for apparant block in the back is waved off after officials confer. A coach is irrate at the waved off flag and refused to send out a team to defend the PAT. Officials allowed B to convert a 2 pt PAT with no defense.

Is this correct, should there be any penalty?

Thanks, for your response, I will keep reading and learning.

A team who refuses to play after being instructed to do so would result in a forfeit (and likely a report to the State Association Office).

I'm not sure exactly how I'd handle this. I think I might do just what this crew did. "Coach, bring 'em out!!!" And when he refuses, just blow the ready.

If they continued to refuse to play after that - perhaps 1 DOG and then a forfeit. I would not have the itchy trigger finger on that forfeit.

REPLY: mbcrowder...not sure I would do it that way. Allowing the offense to play a down prior to the defense being ready--anytime during the contest--IMHO makes a travesty of the game. I think I would follow mikesears' recommendation. Warn the defense's head coach of the consequences if he refuses to put his team on the field. Then if he still refuses, it's him pulling the trigger--not you. I really don't know what choice he gives you.

I understand that ... and that's normally for safety reasons.

But you'd let them run that play with 10 men out there if that's what they wanted. What about 9. 8? Zero?

REPLY: Let me clarify what I said in my earlier post. I had said,

In reality, I really don't care whether or not B "is ready" as long as they're on the field on their side of the neutral zone. What I meant is that I would not blow the ready until B comes back to the field. This also would include after a TO. Though in that case (after TO) I would flag them for DOG. If the coach refuses to send his team back onto the field. I stand by what I had said earlier.

Are you sure you could forfeit, rather than just allowing play to proceed as in the example given? I don't consider it a "travesty", although that's arguable.

It's not one of the situations Fed instituted a few years ago for resuming play, in which both teams need to be ready or it's an infraction. And it's not a case of team A's refusing to play the ball within 2 mins. (or whatever it is in Fed). So I think the procedure that was followed in the case given -- an unopposed snap by A on the try -- is correct.

The next thing you need from the protesting team, assuming neither half ended, is a choice of which team is to kick off. I don't know what the remedy is for refusal to specify a choice offered by the ref. Is it forfeiture of the choice, delay of game, or USC? Or some combination?

No matter what, a kickoff is to follow, and then you're in one of those "resumption of play" situations where both teams have to be ready. If they still refuse, then the common sense solution is a forfeit.

Robert

We would never allow a play to go off with only one team on the field. Proper steps would be -
1) warning
2) DOG
3) final warning
4) forfeit

That should handle it, and would be backed by the state I'm sure. Parents would be all over the coaches a** if they found out he had two warnings and knew the game would be forfeited and he let that happen.

I'd go with a couple of DOG fouls, which would continually "halve the distance to the goal line." Then, we'd have a pretty sound basis within the rules for a forfeit.

I believe that you could actually award a score here too. Without A ever snapping the ball.

sorry, new to FB

what does "dog foul" refer to?

Too many labradors on the field. :D

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

DOG - Delay of Game

delay of game...sorry, i bit.

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, and then step away and wait a minute or so. If at that point, the coach still hasn't budged, the R is supposed to just run over and grab the ball and do end of game (overhead signal with ball) and hightail it off the field with the crew.

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.

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.