Can an official besides the WH eject players/coaches if he sees fit?

[ajmc]

I don't have a problem with the Referee reviewing a disqualifying incident with the calling official to give that official an opportunity to rehash and possibly rethink his decision. I think it also reasonable that the Referee should be given the facts involved and an opportunity to counsel the official regarding the appropriatness of the call.

That being said, this process does not lend itself to a committee environment and there is no prescedent for forming a jury, or taking a vote, especially when some of the voters have not been participants in the incident.

Of the 3 reasons stated; #1, giving the calling official an opportunity to review his decision and consider, or reconsider, the penalty he has called for, seems like a prudent idea.

#2, "the entire crew" is not entitled to voice an opinion on how to handle an incident they were not directly exposed to or involved in. Each official is authorized to render such decisions and suggesting than an individual official is incapable of making such a determination individually, undermines the authority of all officials working that contest.

#3, presuming that some, "commissioner" would question the other officials on the game regarding an incident they were not directly involved in is....unusual, and if is actually the process, suggests that commissioner is unsure of the abilities of the officials he/she supervised to competently perform their duties.

Decisions to disqualify either a player, or coach, is not a routine or frequent occurrence nor is it a decision any competent official takes lightly. However every official is authorized, as well as responsible, for making such decisions individually as part of their job description.

Watering down the authority to make such a decision, or distributing the responsibility for making such a decision, by relegating the decision to a committee format attacks the credibility of every official working that contest, or in that league.

Consulting with each other and communicating about appropriate remedies fitting specific situations can be a helpful and productive idea, unless or until that assistance is taken too far. Forming a committee and voting before enforcing such an inportant decision is way over the line and will likely be far more detrimental than beneficial. This may work on a very limited scale, but seems like a dangerous precedence to fool around with.