Kangaroo Court
 

We are starting a "kangaroo court" for our football crew. The list will consist of offenses that will carry a fine. The money collected, in fines, will be used to pay for dinner or drinks at the end of our season.

I'm looking for some help in creating the list. I'd like suggestions on offenses and the dollar amount you assign to them.

We have the obvious like being late, inadvertant whistle, falling down, forgeting necessary items, etc. looking for some others.

first foul.

Forgetting the number of the fouling player.

Failing fly check

Forgetting an item of equipment before going out on the field (including referee forgetting coin)

Brain fart flag (inelgible downfield on a running play, etc.)

Trip over the yard stripe

Fishing in someone else's pond

Failing to get flag out of pocket/pants while teams, officials, and fans, wait for you to find it the throw it

Forgetting to pack an article of clothing. I always pack at least two of everything, and if I didn't, our back judge would have worked a game without a belt last season.

Forgetting an item so borrowing an item and then not giving it back to whom it was borrowed, i.e. a belt loaned in a playoff game.

Except whistles, they can keep the whistle.

Inadvertant Whistle
 

$20

Not a good suggestion
 

Encourages ignoring infractions to avoid the fine. Plus we don't make enough to be paying for the first foul.

Keep away from this one; there shouldn't be a relationship between your personal gain/loss based on a major impact like a flag.

Could be tricky b/c an official could just say "couldn't/didn't get a number". It does happen! (YouTube - ‪NFL Official John Parry @ Pro Football HOF Luncheon Club‬‎)

FF7 and U71: These are good, especially forgetting uniform items.

This is a good one too. For my college games, an IW means you pay for the first pitcher. Luckily, these are very rare.

I'm not sure I know anyone that would intentionally ignore an infraction, risking their officiating career and decent paychecks, for a 25 cent fine.

What would outsiders' (coaches, parents) perception be if they happened upon knowledge of this sort of practice?

Fan, meet ****. "That official didn't throw a flag because he didn't want to be the one to pay for a pitcher of beer." Worm, meet world.

But in the change room and Johnny forget his flag at home. Joe bails him out, for a wobbly-pop. No problem. During the game, Jimmy has an IW. He can't buy the NCAA players, whom he actually affected, because of NCAA rules, and he can't buy HS players a beer because they're too young. So, he has to buy the crew a beer. :D

You would be surprised.

how about?
 

refs who are checking out the cheerleaders or looking into the crowd?

Anbody who would turn their head at a foul to keep from "paying up" should be banned from officiating forever. If they can be "bought" by a simple and harmless "kangaroo court," what will they do when real pressure comes along? "If you call that hold, I'm scratching you from here forever!"
:rolleyes:

According to Donaghy (and I'm not saying I believe him or don't believe him), they used to have this bet in the NBA to see who tipped the clubbies. And Donaghy said some ridiculous fouls were ignored just to win these bets.

What's the perception of the general public if this comes out? As a WH, I avoid stuff like this. In the end, we disbanded our KC / fine structure because it became meaningless. We'd be fining each other for things that had no real value and in the end, we ended up drinking and eating the money gathered anyway.

We do this and it's a lot of fun. We assign points, and the one with the most points buys the first round. We don't have any rules - majority can give someone a point or two or three (IW is an automatic buyer - and it's no longer funny): Besides those mentioned (I also don't like the first foul):

Throwing bean bag instead of flag or vice versa.
Shoes not polished.
Can see stripes through the knickers.
Dropping ball or bad toss when spotting ball.
Hat falls off.
Have to stop to tie shoe.
Just being generally dorky!
Late (driver) or not ready (passenger).
Wrong enforcement (everyone gets a point).
Forgetting to tell chains to move.
Flag misses spot by a mile or more.
Bad joke.
Wrong signal by white hat.
Stinking up the car with bodily emissions.
Forgetting your long sleeved or short sleeved shirt (both must be in your bag for all games).
"Forgetting" your wallet.
Pissing off the white hat (I have ultimate power in our system!!!). :)
Being in the minority for picking out the reference point for identifying direction (Red is defending north, but we'll say "the big white house with the porch" or "blue shed")
A really good call or good coverage or extra hustle can deduct points. Our BJ made a great call on a touchdown play and I told him that all his points were cancelled. He proceeded to place the ball at the wrong spot for the kickoff and he got all of them back, plus like 20 more. :)


Doing something stupid or goofy during a sub-varsity game during the week is used as a tie breaker. It has to be witnessed by a crew member but, since we have no rules and majority wins, we can assign the point if we hear it from a good source. Other crews know about our point system so we ALWAYS hear about the screw ups! Points do not carry over from week to week - unless we decide to carry them over. Doing something really stupid not involving football or officiating anytime during the year can be used against you if we feel like it. If you don't like it, we'll probably give you another point.