Holding

[Jim D.]

Originally Posted by LarryRc

I believe in the philosophy of if its away from the play its not a hold.

Actually, the more proper philosophy is that if it is away from the hold it still is a hold, but to make the game flow more smoothly you chose not to enforce it. Nothing makes it legal if it's away from the play, and we're giving the team a break by not calling it. If you need to call it because it's persistant, then feel free to do so. You don't owe the team a free pass on an illegal technique.

Originally Posted by Jim D.

Actually, the more proper philosophy is that if it is away from the hold it still is a hold, but to make the game flow more smoothly you chose not to enforce it. Nothing makes it legal if it's away from the play, and we're giving the team a break by not calling it. If you need to call it because it's persistant, then feel free to do so. You don't owe the team a free pass on an illegal technique.

I actually got chewed out by a white hat once in a freshman game for flagging a hold when the play was going towards the other side when I was the linesman. Ever since, I've come to see the philosophy is widespread, even at the college level.

[whitehat]

Some good discussion here. I think there is a misconception on the part of coaches who are telling their kids that if you hold tight and inside (grabbing defender by breastplate and keeping him close so there is no seperation) then the refs wont call it or its not a foul.

If I see this early in a game away from the play I talk to the kids and tell them they cannot hold. The routine response is "Im doing it tight and inside so its legal right?"

If I see it at the point of attack I flag it and when they try to explain what they were doing is legal... I explain that is is not legal..

Maybe coaches should be educated in clinics or pre-season meetings. Not sure how they get these strange rule ideas in their heads...

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by whitehat

Maybe coaches should be educated in clinics or pre-season meetings. Not sure how they get these strange rule ideas in their heads...

Education is not going to help, these coaches know full well what they're teaching isn't right but they each it anyway. Back in the "dark ages" they called this "cheating", but now it's been rationalized into preventive maintenance or some other concept that relieves the teacher of all guilt for not being able to teach blocking correctly.