air horns
 

On another forum the question about the legality of air horns has come up for NFHS in Arizona. I can not find a rule reference prohibiting them. Anybody know of a rule reference that may be causing this question of the use of an air horn at a high school football game in Arizona?

They are not illegal in football under the current rules. There might be a local policy that outlaws them, but not in the rulebook.

Peace

They are illegal. Look in the rules under "Unnecessary What the F was THAT?!?!!" in the subsection "Unsportsmanlike Cut that Crap Out".

According to the AIA website, they are definitely banned in the state playoffs. I would assume schools could carry that over themselves if not specifically spelled out.

My association ran this up the flag pole about three years ago. We had a fan that had a train whistle. He brought an air compressor and had it fixed up nicely. TN state office said we had no control and NFHS said we had no control.

I was there this past Friday night. The school has set him up a spot away from everyone and he still whistles. However, he is a sportsman about it, never when the opposing team is calling signals. Just when his team scores or gets possession.

I just spent some time searching the AIA site thinking I had missed something the first time but didn't turn up anything again. I know they are illegal in post season play for all sports played in-doors, but could you give me a reference from the AIA site where it says they are illegal for football playoffs? Thanks.

Basketball has a rule that makes artificial noise makers illegal. And they are illegal during live ball play, not during dead ball. If that was the case the band could never play. There is no such rule in football under NF rules, but might be a policy that covers this in your state.

Peace

Well that was genuinely unhelpful. Someone asks for a rule site, and you post the whole book? Nice.

Just linked the source that had it. Nobody held a gun to your head.

Have a nice day.

Illinois
 

J. Artificial Noisemakers:
Noisemakers have not been banned from
outside activities, such as first round through
semi-final football playoff games, except for
horns and whistles. If your team qualifies for
the state finals at Champaign in November,
noisemakers are not allowed in Memorial
Stadium.

We had about a dozen "vuvuzela's" last Friday. . . they weren't too bad, nothing like the 50,000 or so @ world cup :)

Did they play them 3 hours before game time and hours after the game was over? Then that would be like the World Cup. ;)

Peace

Some idiot was blowing a truck horn the other night in our game. Thankfully, it wasn't very often. I would blow the ready for the kickoff, and he'd be right after me. His timing was actually pretty consistent!

In Texas (NCAA rules), it pretty much requires that the person making the noise be subject to the rules (band, etc.). However, if its ever a real problem, we pretty much have the authority to shut it down. And I WILL do that. I'm no fan of loud noises in any form, but my threshold for action is a little higher than my personal comfort.

Thanks for the link. I read a lot in their about artificial noise makers and one reference to a "horn" under the rules for University of Phoenix Stadium. With all that said, I have had a personal disagreement with the state commisioner over the definition of "artificial noise maker". I was the one that was being more strict on the rule.

Therefore, my final opinion is that air horns are legal at a regular season game in an open air stadium.

On a side note, after this topic had already been posed, I was doing a game where a fan had an air horn. A player for the team this guy was rooting for picked off a pass and this guy went nuts with the air horn. The player promptly stopped and looked around for the origin of the sound and dropped the ball on the ground (he must have thought it was the horn for the scoreboard and didn't know to play through the end of a quarter). The other team picked it up and nearly ran it back for a score. (great job by the crew not to have an IW) I guess you can call that Karma!

Not to get into a basketball scenario but that's incorrect.

Under NFHS baksetball rules:

Artificial nosiemakers are always illegal (with the exception of cheerleaders using non-amplified megaphones).

Bands can only play during timeouts and between periods.

Well the band has artificial noisemakers too but we do not get rid of the band now do we? ;) That was the point I was making. Also most football officials might not understand what live ball and dead ball periods are in basketball rules and it was not the point of the response. Also depending on your state they might define what items those are specifically and how they are to be used and never used (in basketball). In football the band was outlawed to do a lot of things long before there was any consideration of the NF Rules in any sport that I am aware of. Also cheerleaders cannot use (non-amplified) megaphones in my state by interpretation and we never see them (at least I have not in years).

Peace

He probably thought it was a fire alarm or some other emergency signal. Couldn't you have "found" an IW? Doesn't letting that play stand offend anyone's sense of spectator vs. participant?

Which is why my post says "Under NFHS Rules." Nobody can address all the screwy things different states come up with.

You are right, but people may need to review their state rules or policies and interpretations so they know what to do. The rulebook can always say one thing, but the things you do in your state is another thing. This is a situation that clearly has some local application because the punishments might be different from one place to another.

Peace