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Football Officiating => War Stories => Topic started by: TxCoach on September 09, 2009, 01:13:45 PM
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Close game, we kickoff, the returner catches the ball at about the 15 and the official winds his arm and hammers down on the whistle. Most of the kids kept playing and the returner is tackled about midfield. The officials huddle. People from the stands are yelling "What a circus!" Our coaches are yelling. I felt bad for the guy. I'm pretty sure it was a first year official...I know the wingman on our sideline was. After our next score I told him he could feel free to blow the whistle where they catch the kickoff...I'd be fine with that. He laughed. I don't see how you guys do it.
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I am a first year official. I was told I had my first IW at the perfect time- a scrimmage. I saw a kid grab another kid's facemask, I threw my flag and blew the whistle; just like a good basketball official would :P. (I am a basketball coach). The kids didn't hear it, but the coaches did. Needless to say I make sure I see the play dead, before I blow the whistle. I am amazed at how many plays we don't even blow the whistle.
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Yeah, it's amazing how often no whistle is blown. Personally I think the whistle should be blown every play. It makes it a lot harder to coach effort when you can't tell them to play clean whistle to whistle. Telling them to play 100% as hard as they can until the play is kind of over or you see his knee down and everybody else stops playing just isn't as effective.
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Yeah, it's amazing how often no whistle is blown. Personally I think the whistle should be blown every play. It makes it a lot harder to coach effort when you can't tell them to play clean whistle to whistle. Telling them to play 100% as hard as they can until the play is kind of over or you see his knee down and everybody else stops playing just isn't as effective.
I found out a long time ago that many plays don't need a whistle. A good number of plays in a game end with the runner being down and all the players stop at that point. Of course, if some of the players don't know the play is dead (or just don't care) and are still going at it, a whistle or loud voice is very beneficial. ;)
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Many times the play ends and we have no whistle. The old adage that the whistle doesn't end the down is ALMOST true... The one time it does is when it's an IW. So around our crew, you probably won't hear a whistle when the give is up the midde into a scrum. If we don't see the ball in someone's posession, we don't blow.
My first IW happened as a second-year trainee. Sweep to my side and the WR performs a classic textbook hook around the waist of the defender. I'm so proud I recognized it that I throw my flag and let loose with a loud blast on the whistle... then realized what I'd done. :-[
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We have one Umpire who claims he doesn't even carry a whistle onto the field. Says no way to have an IW if you don't have a whistle.
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Ah, the dreaded IW. If an official tells you he hasn't had one, he either hasn't worked many games or he's lying to you. :)
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We have one Umpire who claims he doesn't even carry a whistle onto the field. Says no way to have an IW if you don't have a whistle.
When I work umpire, I rarely use my whistle. When the play is up the middle, it can be hard to see the ball. If I can't see the ball, I will not blow the whistle. We have a couple of local teams that are great at fakes. Sometimes they even suck me in on it. I never want to have an IW when the O faked the up the middle and took the ball outside.
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When I work umpire, I rarely use my whistle. When the play is up the middle, it can be hard to see the ball. If I can't see the ball, I will not blow the whistle. We have a couple of local teams that are great at fakes. Sometimes they even suck me in on it. I never want to have an IW when the O faked the up the middle and took the ball outside.
I rarely use mine either, but I wonder what my collegue does when he sees a snap infraction.
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I rarely use mine either, but I wonder what my collegue does when he sees a snap infraction.
"HEY!!! EVERYBODY HOLD ON A SEC!!!"" :)
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yes i had a iw my first year.
mow in year 5 i hold on to the whislte for a second longer to make sure i saw the ball.
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I have one about every 100 games or so.
It has never been from having the whistle in my mouth (I don't use a lanyard).
Once it was to stop a fight - I didn't consider the play was still on, just wanted to get the players off each other.
Twice where just brain farts where I saw my qhistle coming up to my mouth, and even remember thinking 'Hmm, I should wait to blow thaPFFFFFF'.
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Yeah, it's amazing how often no whistle is blown. Personally I think the whistle should be blown every play. It makes it a lot harder to coach effort when you can't tell them to play clean whistle to whistle. Telling them to play 100% as hard as they can until the play is kind of over or you see his knee down and everybody else stops playing just isn't as effective.
Coach has illustrated the double edged sword we have here. Yes coach, ideally we would like to blow the plays dead so everyone knows the play has ended. However, as you've probably read, we need to PHYSICALLY SEE THE BALL before we blow our whistle. This is so we don't have any inadvertent ones like when someone picks up a fumble and starts running for six and one official blows his whistle when he sees the pile hit the ground. That's why there is no whistle.
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I know and fully understand why the whistle doesn't get blown every play and that you don't want to blow it until you've seen ball in possession and possessive player down...but I've also had officials flag a lineman for finishing a pancake when the play was over and there was no whistle. IMO if you're not blowing the whistle, you can't flag honest late hits. (I'm not talking about the cheapshots).
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IMO if you're not blowing the whistle, you can't flag honest late hits. (I'm not talking about the cheapshots).
This depends entirely on the situation. Maybe not in your situation, but there are times when the players should know when a play is over (the play essentially kills itself). Whistle or not, if they commit a bonehead late hit in that situation, they are getting flagged for it.
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If the play kills itself, why wouldn't a whistle be blown? If the whole theory behind not blowing a whistle is that you can't see the ball clearly and aren't sure when they are down, how is my player (who could very possibly have his back to the play) supposed to know when the play is over when the officials arent sure its over?
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Well, when everyone else has stopped and your lineman is still "finishing a pancake" because you coached him to "play until the whistle", it's going to look mighty obvious. In the case of our crew, we'll use our voices before throwing a flag, but some of those lineman don't listen to voices and continue action after the play. THEN they get a flag. "I didn't hear the whistle" is not a valid excuse if everyone ELSE managed to realize the play was over and had stopped action.
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If the play kills itself, why wouldn't a whistle be blown?
Maybe it will be but the official, practicing good mechanics, is slow on the whistle to ensure he does not commit an IW. Maybe the pass is well over thrown and obviously out of bounds but the defender hits a defenseless receiver anyways. Maybe the ball carrier is 5 steps out of bounds but the defender levels him before the official can whistle him out of play. There are numerous scenarios. On the opposite end of the coin, if there is a clean hit that might be a split second late committed by a player that wouldn't be aware of the play ending, I think most good officials will let that go.
The point is, a whistle is not the action that kills a play (unless it is an IW). The players have to be aware of what is going on.
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I know and fully understand why the whistle doesn't get blown every play and that you don't want to blow it until you've seen ball in possession and possessive player down...but I've also had officials flag a lineman for finishing a pancake when the play was over and there was no whistle. IMO if you're not blowing the whistle, you can't flag honest late hits. (I'm not talking about the cheapshots).
Agreed. If it's away from the ball or ball carrier, then yes. However, if it's something late on the ball carrier or near enough where they know the play is dead, then yes, we're getting that.
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When I work umpire, I rarely use my whistle. When the play is up the middle, it can be hard to see the ball. If I can't see the ball, I will not blow the whistle. We have a couple of local teams that are great at fakes. Sometimes they even suck me in on it. I never want to have an IW when the O faked the up the middle and took the ball outside.
If you can't see the ball, don't blow the tweeter. Seems mostly simple - now.
Had a rookie crew (total five games experience between there of my officials, plus a solid third-year guy.)
Guess who had the IW?
The third-year. Ball was free on a fumble behind the LOS, with three defenders about to dive on it when Bubba (at ump) blew it dead.
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Maybe he saw a Snickers bar near the football, and wanted to make sure that it didn't get flattened.
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Maybe he saw a Snickers bar near the football, and wanted to make sure that it didn't get flattened.
He's still quite thin. New to the pit, this one was.
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Keep telling new officials to keep the whistle out of their mouths. Those that a real hard headed get a senior official that stays on top of them during color games and scrimmages. I walked up to one young official one afternoon and explained right after he had been knocked off his feet on a run into the sideline ..... "The next time you have your whistle in your mouth and forget to get behind the runner instead of in the middle of his flight path ...... you may be picking up teeth instead of equipment off the ground." I guess the thought of losing teeth was enough ..... he no longer plays basketball Ref on a football field.
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The whistle does not end the play - the play ends by RULE
Um, TxCoach knows that.
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Keep telling new officials to keep the whistle out of their mouths. Those that a real hard headed get a senior official that stays on top of them during color games and scrimmages. I walked up to one young official one afternoon and explained right after he had been knocked off his feet on a run into the sideline ..... "The next time you have your whistle in your mouth and forget to get behind the runner instead of in the middle of his flight path ...... you may be picking up teeth instead of equipment off the ground." I guess the thought of losing teeth was enough ..... he no longer plays basketball Ref on a football field.
Bah! An official has just as much chance of losing teeth during a game whether the whistle is in the mouth or out. 5 years of officiating the sidelines (and getting knoked down from time to time) and I still have all my original teeth. (Knock on wood).
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Bah! An official has just as much chance of losing teeth during a game whether the whistle is in the mouth or out. 5 years of officiating the sidelines (and getting knoked down from time to time) and I still have all my original teeth. (Knock on wood).
If you still have your teeth, after 20 more years, and still haven't learned to keep your whistle out of your mouth, you may have something worth thinking about.
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An official has just as much chance of losing teeth during a game whether the whistle is in the mouth or out.
Poppycock!
5 years of officiating the sidelines (and getting knoked down from time to time) and I still have all my original teeth. (Knock on wood).
10 years on the sideline and yet to be knocked down. Maybe some adjustments in mechanics are in order.
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10 years on the sideline and yet to be knocked down.
You just jinxed yourself. ;D
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Ah, the dreaded IW. If an official tells you he hasn't had one, he either hasn't worked many games or he's lying to you. :)
I had my first one ever this year. Took 3 years. Thankfully the ball was dead. Team didn't have enough men on the line and I decided that would be a great time to kill it before the snap.
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We have one Umpire who claims he doesn't even carry a whistle onto the field. Says no way to have an IW if you don't have a whistle.
We have an umpire who absolutely loves to bow his whistle every play. As a wing official, it's very frustrating. Especially when the white hat "likes him" and doesn't address the issue.
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Try officiating a game at a school for the deaf, quite a deal
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We had one Friday night.....not myself...but it's a play we discussed with new guys in Summer training class.... Qb in shotgun....turns and throws backward pass....except he throws it to the ground so it skips to the back who will then throw it downfield. Unfortunately...2nd year LJ blows it dead when it hits the ground.... Tough way to learn just because the pass is backward....it doesn't have to be caught in the air...to be a legal backward pass....
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Did you ask the coach about any unusual plays during the pregame conference? Did he mention this one?
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I had my first one ever this year. Took 3 years. Thankfully the ball was dead. Team didn't have enough men on the line and I decided that would be a great time to kill it before the snap.
Must have been something in the air -- my LJ did the exact same thing in a middle school game last Tuesday!
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Fun is officiating Semi Pro under NFL rules after a season of High School. First running back that goes down ... Untouched? I have eaten many a whistle. You cannot imagine how many IW's we have in the first weeks.
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Fun is officiating Semi Pro under NFL rules after a season of High School. First running back that goes down ... Untouched? I have eaten many a whistle. You cannot imagine how many IW's we have in the first weeks.
Yeah, that's a tough one. We used to have an "All-Star" game for Division 2, 3 and NAIA/juco kids in the area and the rules included that (along with several other changes). Man, that was a tough game to work.
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Fun is officiating Semi Pro under NFL rules after a season of High School. First running back that goes down ... Untouched? I have eaten many a whistle. You cannot imagine how many IW's we have in the first weeks.
Or the D lineman jumping into the neutral zone and getting back often drew a flag & whistle.
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Football Fundamentals III
1 A game officials whistle seldom kills the ball. It is already dead by rule
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We only do Semi Pro Games so that I can learn new four letter words.......
Ernest Givens owns a team in Bradenton Florida. Walking my sideline, every other word something more creative. "Got a problem with my language Ref?" "I could care less how you talk to your players, just don't address me that way." walks by a few minutes later "What do you think about my Quarterback?" "Coach, I'm fifty years old, I can throw better than your Quarterback." Minutes later "Got any eligibility left ?" "Said I can out throw him, I can't out run him."
Givens was a wide receiver for Arizona Cardinals for years.