I got that much out of your statement. Not sure I totally disagree with you. But someone has determined it is illegal to the rules and in some cases the law. And at least on one front we are asked to enforce one of those situations. And I do not have the right to write a ticket to someone that violates the state law. ;)

Peace

What world do you live in, Pollyanna?

The only reason those rules are in the book is because someone, somewhere, at some time was having enough of a problem that they felt a rule was needed to address them.

It's not just football, this a NFHS all-sport rule.

A "problem"? What "problem"? In the case of tobacco products, it is inconceivable that there could've been a single problem that happened to be caused by each of cigarets, cigars, wet and dry snuff. The products are used so differently that any problem one of them might've caused would not have been caused by others, and yet not caused by similar non-tobacco products.

The problem being that coaches freely use chewing tobacco around their players and the NFHS does not want coaches influencing players in this manner. I know it was common with our coaches when I played and many saw it as tacit approval since the coaches did it.

Unduly celebrating in the end zone is neither a tactical advantage nor a safety issue yet we are charged with stopping it.

I live and grew up in Appalachia. I remember when tobacco reps came to the field house on campus and dropped off boxes of chaw at the coaches office. As student trainer-manager, I usually got a box for myself.
The student smoke hole was in the drive between the gym lobby and the fieldhouse.

It is a new day. I have one school where I know good and well one of the AC's usually has a dip in. I just tell him before the game I don't need to see it. Beyond that, to me it's a personnel issue, not a game officiating issue.

It's thought to engender USC by opponents.

But there are probably as many or more people who would disapprove of coaches displaying other vices, such as smoking cannabis or drinking liquor or looking at porn in front of their players, yet there's no Fed rule about doing those. I notice there's not even a Fed rule about nicotine gum (or non-nicotine gum), only tobacco.

We had a similar issue in baseball near where I live. A coach did not have his contract renewed after numerous complaints about his use of chew during games. The final game of the season ended, and as the umpire was leaving the field, he witnessed the coach put some of the chew (or suspected chew) in his mouth. Since the game was over he did not eject the coach, but he did file a report with the state association (which also gets back to the AD). This was one of the reasons his contracted was not renewed.

You guys all are forgetting the most important thing here. The football field, basketball court, baseball diamond or whatever surface your sport is played on isn't just an extra-curricular site. It is an extension of the classroom and at the high school level we as officials are educators too. It is our responsibility to enforce sportsmanship and other rules. As an educator you would not allow any sort of tobacco in your classroom and that is what the football field is, a classroom.

And for those of you that say this isn't a safety rule, try checking this out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pict...GoPmqQHljoDICQ

I get that "extension" speech quite a bit concerning coaches behavior too. How many d@#n, $#!t'Z, #3!!'s do you flag in your extended classroom on Friday night?

Much like a teacher would do, I warn when it is appropriate. I have flagged for it too. They usually stop after my warning or they are much more strategic when doing it.

I don't think the question is so much why it's illegal, but why this. Why not explicitly prohibit other things that are forbidden during the classroom.

MD was joking in the other thread, but why not prohibit knives, for example?

Further, why make it a flagrant offense?

Personally, I don't have a problem with the rule as it is, but I do wonder why.

How about you just paddle the coach at halftime or suspend him for a quarter!

You know ... we are all (all but 1) officials here. It should be ok for a guy who's been around here a while, proven he is not a troll, etc - to mention that he thinks a particular rule should not be a rule, without being attacked and asked, "what other rules are you going to ignore". Good grief, people.