How do you get your crews attention when a play goes far downfield ?

[REFANDUMP]

Had a play the other night during the last minute of the 1st half which caused me some frustration.  Team A has the ball on their own 25 and completes a pass that goes for about 60 yards.  During the play, I throw a flag for roughing the passer.  Obviously we need to get this tacked on to the end of the play before we restart.  I'm standing back by the previous spot waving my hands and repeatedly blowing my whistle.  I'm hoping the PA man will say something about the flag on the field.  He says nothing.  I finally pick up the flag, hustle down the field, and administer the penalty.  No one knows what the heck is going on, as there was no mention about the flag, nor did either coach or team realize I had thrown it.  My question is, what can you do to communicate to someone that you have a flag on a play where the action takes you a long ways from where the flag was thrown ??

[FLAHL]

As the WH, at least you know that you have to administer the penalty before the next snap.  Since it's administered from the succeeding spot, I think you do just what you did.  Kill the clock and give the preliminary signal.  No need to wait for the PA announcer and no need to ask a captain for a decision.  Hustle down the field, tell the U what happened, and give the signal again as the U is marking off the foul.

It can be even more frustrating if a crew member throws a flag that the WH doesn't know about.  This doesn't happen to us on Friday as the official who throws the flag also does a double-toot on the whistle to get the WH's attention.  Another official covers the flag, and the original official moves to the WH to explain what happened.  For JV and youth games, we work with different officials every week and it's another story.  Several times I've been ready to blow the RFP and have had officials come to me and say "I had a flag on the previous play."

[theunofficialofficial]

This should be a great discussion for your crew at half time or post game. First I hope that you used a very loud staccato whistle to indicate that you had something and get your crew's attention. But, if they failed to hear that then your entire crew should be working on it's communication. Was the HL moving the chains without looking to you to signal? Did you signal to him to move the chains? Was your entire crew not scanning the field for flags after the play was over? When you did come up, did you communicate with your umpire you had a penalty and tell him to mark it off?

I never care what announcers are saying (unless it's bad mouthing officials). We had a situation Friday night where the announcer didn't know his signals from a hole in his head. Apparently UNS signal still means personal foul. But, give your preliminary and talk to the coaches. Then go down administer and give your official signal.

It seems like there is a lot to be learned here. Hopefully you all talked about it and learned what each of you could do better to recognize this.

[Magician]

Give multiple toots on the whistle like you ask your crew to do. This should cause the entire crew to look around and see your flag. You could give a preliminary signal and then move quickly to the U to confirm the result of the play. You have no idea if there was a turnover downfield so you need to find that out. Once you confirm A has maintained possession you know the enforcement will be succeeding spot. Otherwise you have a previous spot enforcement.