Substitution play

[Berkut]

I really don't understand why there is always a question about whether plays of this type are legal.

They aren't. None of them are. You cannot use the substitution system as a means of deceiving the other team. I had this in a college game this week, and the crew actually had to go and argue about it pre-game before we could agree that they could not do it - which bothered me. This should not require any discussion.

If the intent of the players doing whatever it is they are doing is to cause the other team to think that the player in question is not someone they have to cover or account for because that player is a substitute or replaced, it is illegal.

Period.

There isn't ever any reason for a coach to ask if a play like this is legal. Either the players are doing completely normal substitutions, in which case there is no need to ask me about it, or they are doing something not normal in an effort to deceive in which case they are going to draw a flag.