K's 52 yard kickoff return for TD...

[Reffing Rev.]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Did you apply the rule about recovering scrimmage kicks behind the neutral zone to a free kick?

Well that was exactly how the crew conference went. JV game, 4 officials, I was R, being 40+ yards away from everything, I thought I knew what happened, but because I wasn't sure, I let the play come at me, and whne K crossed the goal line I signalled touchdown for about a half of second and then just the kill clock signal. I called the crew together. U and HL said that since the ball was recovered behind K's restraining line they could advance. LJ said since R touched it K could could advance, but everybody told him he was wrong. So after about 2 minutes of conference, with me saying ball is dead where K recovers on a free kick, and they arguing opposed, with both teams lining up for the PAT, I regretfully allowed the majority to win out. In the parking lot before we left we read rule 6, and I've prepared a pre-game quiz for this Friday on kicking situations.

So short of having a rule-book on field, which I think tacky, how would you have handled differently, and how would you let the conversation play out. I can honestly say, on a Friday night, I would have argued the point until either the lights went out or the state observer came out of the stands and said, play-on boys.