Blocks/Hits away from the play

[psujaye]

I see this happen in pop warner games on a regular basis; the play/ball is downfield and kids trailing the play that are not involved use it as an opportunity to find someone to hit. Sometimes the hits are what would be considered legal blocks, sometimes they are apparent cheap shots. When i'm the R, I always look off the ball (once one of the other refs has the play) for these hits. I try to flag them as dead ball personal fouls (even if they would be considered legal blocks since the contact is well away from the play) without making anything up (for safety issues).
What are everyone's thoughts on this? again, this is 105-135lb pop warner FB. I've seen very few hits as I am describing in the school games i work.
I'm open to suggestions; some officials i've spoken with say flag it even if its a 'legal block' and others say not to.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by psujaye

I see this happen in pop warner games on a regular basis; the play/ball is downfield and kids trailing the play that are not involved use it as an opportunity to find someone to hit. Sometimes the hits are what would be considered legal blocks, sometimes they are apparent cheap shots. When i'm the R, I always look off the ball (once one of the other refs has the play) for these hits. I try to flag them as dead ball personal fouls (even if they would be considered legal blocks since the contact is well away from the play) without making anything up (for safety issues).
What are everyone's thoughts on this? again, this is 105-135lb pop warner FB. I've seen very few hits as I am describing in the school games i work.
I'm open to suggestions; some officials i've spoken with say flag it even if its a 'legal block' and others say not to.

CANADIAN PHILOSOPHY:

These hits are penalized as live ball fouls. Yes, they do often negate scores.

[Jim D]

NFHS Rule 9-4-3-b "No player shall charge into or throw an opponent to the ground after he is obviously out of the play."

This is a personal foul even if the ball is still live. The "legallity" of the block does not enter in to this. Since this is a saftey issue, I wouldn't be too lenient especially if I thought a kid was "head hunting".

[refbuz]

I think that you gotta call hits like these away from the play (20-30 yards), even if they are "legal" hits. The fact that they are so far away and on a player that is not part of the play is what makes it an unnecessary roughness foul. You could be asking for a world of hurt, as the offended team might look for retaliation if you don't. If I am close enough, I will use some preventative officiating and letting them know that I am there in order to avoid having to throw that foul.

Are you always enforcing as a Dead Ball foul though? If you know for certain that the ball wasn't in the end zone at the time of the foul, you could take the points off the board and enforce from the flag. If you don't know, then you'd enforce as a dead ball.

They'll learn not to do that real quick if it costs their team a TD.

[psujaye]

Originally Posted by refbuz

I think that you gotta call hits like these away from the play (20-30 yards), even if they are "legal" hits. The fact that they are so far away and on a player that is not part of the play is what makes it an unnecessary roughness foul. You could be asking for a world of hurt, as the offended team might look for retaliation if you don't. If I am close enough, I will use some preventative officiating and letting them know that I am there in order to avoid having to throw that foul.

Are you always enforcing as a Dead Ball foul though? If you know for certain that the ball wasn't in the end zone at the time of the foul, you could take the points off the board and enforce from the flag. If you don't know, then you'd enforce as a dead ball.

They'll learn not to do that real quick if it costs their team a TD.

If it is close to the whistle/after the play, i've been enforcing it as a dead ball foul. If its obvious to everyone it is during the play, then as a live ball foul. I'm trying to make it a habit of talking to the players to prevent anything once the ball/play is down field.
I just want to make sure i'm handling it correctly.

[refbuz]

I don't see anything wrong with the way you're handling it.

Talking to the players works wonders.

[TXMike]

I'd want to be absolutely sure the blockee is clearly not participating in the play or trying to do so before flagging an otherwise legal hit away from the play. Some of these kids will run after the play and might be getting downfield to be there in the event of a loss of possession. I see no problem with them being blocked. The kid that has clearly given up is NOT someone who should be subject to a free shot.

[waltjp]

These are not hard to distinguish. You'll see the blocker sizing up his victim and then taking a charge at him.