Old SI article on Tommy Bell and his Crew

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

if the coach writes you up and no flag has been displayed you are the one in trouble.
That's Rome!

I'm afraid your problem goes a lot deeper than unruly coaches. The basic idea of using a flag is to identify that something improper has happened , immediately before, during play or immediately thereafter, so everyone knows that further game action will be interrupted until the foul has been addressed.

When leaving the field, after the game has ended, the absolute worst and dumbest thing we can do is stop, prolong or focus attention on any type of inappropriate behavior, and it's resulting commotion, in front of a crowd. Whoever it is who might insist that a flag be thrown, before taking action against inappropriate behavior by coaches, or players, after a game has ended, is a complete idiot.

The inappropriate conduct is being, or has been, committed, it makes no sense, no difference and there is no benefit or purpose in calling added attention to it at the spot, when the contest is over. There is no need to pause, as no penalty will be assessed at, or from, that point.

Roman society lasted a long time, but eventually the leaders got themselves so far off track, they had to get thrown out of office. It took a while for the Romans to get that pi$$ed off, but eventually they did.