Four or five man crew.

For a field goal or point-after:

What official whistles the ball dead? And, when is the whistle sounded?

I've worked with a few crews that have the HL blow the whistle as the ball crossed the goal line. I recently worked with with a R that wanted HL to blow the whistle on a try as soon as the ball is kicked. The rationale that ball is dead when the ball crosses the goal line and we are waiting for the result of the kick. The second one being that on a try only A can score and the ball is dead when it becomes apparent that the try in unsucessful.

I have also had guys that wanted the man at the goal post blow it dead. This is what my R prefers.

On our 5 man crew, the BJ blows the whistle before we signal good or no good, on kicks that break the goal line plane. If the kick is blocked in the backfield, our R blows the whistle.

I think unless all the crews in your area or state are blwoing the whistle as soon as the ball is kicked, you only confuse the teams by doing it.

Interesting question that actually says a few things about mechanics, so here's my question. In the mechanics of your area - answer me this, for both 4, 5 man crews.

Convert, short FG
a) whose watching the ball, judging whether the try/fg is good?
b) whose watching the kicker/holder?

Ditto for longer FGs.

What we do for Canadian (where the posts are on the goal line, btw) is have the head ref watch the ball for all converts, FGs inside 15; the sideline guy who can see the front of the holder watches for UR on kicker/holder. For that reason, the HR blows the play dead.

15 yards out, or more, HR has kicker/holder; HL or LJ on the short side of the field goes under the post with with the Umpire (four) or Deep Judge (five). In that case, both have responsibility for blowing the play dead.

I post these to see what responses that generates on the mechanics of the situation.

Texas 5 man
 

In Texas, using a five man crew, the BJ and LJ are under the uprights, with the BJ having the whistle when the kick is good or misses wide or short. Since we play NCAA rules, we do not whistle as soon as the ball crosses the goal line, as Team B still could score points on a block or short kick that was caught in the end zone and returned for a score.

The umpire has the responsibility to watch/protect the snapper. The R has the responsibility for watching the kicker and holder. The HL has the responsibility for making sure that the kick crosses the neutral zone.

In Virginia:

5 Man FG/PAT: U and BJ under goal posts
U has upright and snapper;
BJ upright/crossbar whistle
R has kicker holder

4 Man FG/PAT U under goal posts has over/under
R has uprights good/no good
L has kicker/holder
(FG >15 yards U has call others revert to
5 man).

See my new thread.
 

I'm in favor of waiting until the kick is grounded and/or caught/recovered or is beyond the end line before blowing our whistles.

The reason being that the kick in flight can still be blocked and/or caught/recovered/touched.

Can you imagine what would happen if we blew our whistles and the defender who had a shot at blocking the kick suddenly stopped?

See my new thread on R blocking the kick in their end zone.

Mike,

We sound the whistle after the kick is beyond the reach of the defense (PAT only). This lets the players know that, for all intents and purposes, the play is over. Just a quicker whistle to help prevent any injuries, extracirrcular activities, etc.

The Referee will kill all TRYs as soon as the ball is kicked. No, no, this is not an IW, so don't go there. It's what we do to stop any nonsense.

As far as FG attempts, the Referee has the whistle from the goal line to the 15. Outside the 15, the whistle is by the downfield official. Since we only do four-man games, that would be the Line Judge. One can rather quickly tell if the ball is going to make it into the EZ or not, but since it is a live ball until then, you have to hold the whistle.

Iowa 5 Man High School

LJ and BJ have the uprights
U has the snapper and line play
HL has line play
R has the holder and kicker for roughing

On PATS and FGs BJ has the whistle, and along with the LJ decides on good or no good. Whistle sounded when the try is obviuosly good or no good and fg as soon as the ball breaks the plane of the goal line (touchback if no good)

R must keep eye on the kicker/holder for roughing

4 Man

LJ inside 15 decides if long enough
U has snapper and line play
HL has holder/kicker responsibity
R has to make call on good/ no good


[Edited by BoBo on Sep 24th, 2002 at 09:53 PM]