Pick your ruling

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Nope. Here's 2-26-7:
"ART. 7 . . . A yard line is any line and its vertical plane parallel to the end lines. The yard lines, marked or unmarked, in the field of play are numbered in yards from a team’s own goal line to the middle of the field."

I'm without my rule book as I post but above is a quote of Art 7 from the first page. if it is correct then it also says "from a team's own goal line..." which would exclude the end zone. So the point made in that post is invalid by definition as I see it.

It says the yard lines IN THE FIELD OF PLAY are NUMBERED from the goal line. The definition of a yard line is the first sentence - notably ANY line parallel to the end lines.

Further (wish I had my rulebook with me), I am not convinced basic spot enforcement applies against B, in B's endzone, when A is responsible for putting the ball there. On the fly as R I am giving B the ball at the 20 then penalizing them 5 so 1st and 10 from the 15...until convinced otherwise.

Anybody have a casebook example one way or the other...always willing to learn but when in doubt fairness gets the nod and 1st and ten at the 15 is the fairest enforcement.

I'm currently looking at the 2007 casebook, but I'm pretty sure this hasn't changed.

8.5.2 SITUATION F: B1 intercepts on his own 4-yard line and his momentum
takes him into B's end zone. ... (d) B2 holds A1 in the end zone as B1 is downed there.
RULING: ... In (d), the foul by B2 occurred in the end zone behind the basic spot,
resulting in a safety.

This addresses the foul in the end zone part of things, but not the forward handing bit. I'm convinced you can have forward handing in the end zone, but I'll run this one by our interpreter anyway.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by The Roamin' Umpire

It says the yard lines IN THE FIELD OF PLAY are NUMBERED from the goal line. The definition of a yard line is the first sentence - notably ANY line parallel to the end lines.

whitehat's misuse of the quote feature makes it seem as if your post disagrees with mine, when in fact you're reiterating what I said in my post.

To put the point yet another way: the rule that mentions yard lines "in the field of play" makes a point about numbering, not about the existence of yard lines.