Most significant issues with officiating at present:

[Longtime Observer]

1) Inconsistent or unclear application of the "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty. It seems at times that if a player merely utters a curse word, it will be a 15-yard penalty. Other times, not so much.

2) Too many holding calls

3) Invocation of the "water break". Stopping the game at various times benefits or hurts teams differently, depending on the circumstances. An offense with momentum- especially when they play at a fast pace- is harmed by a stoppage after a first down. The defense is  obviously helped. If there were a straightforward time/rule on this, it would help. Tonight, Venice ran a play with about 6:10 to go in the 3rd quarter and was stopped for a short gain. The clock went under 6 minutes, and the QB had to come out due to his helmet coming off. NO water break. Venice runs a 3rd down play with about 5:25 to go, stopped. Clock runs under 5 minutes...still no stoppage, as Venice keeps its offense on the field. Venice tries to draw CAI offsides with no luck, clock continues to run with no water break. Venice runs 4th down with 4-something minutes to go. They convert and get out of bounds and THEN they call the water break. In other situations, I've frequently seen the water break called with 6 and  a half minutes left in a quarter.

4) of course general competence and clock management remains an issue.

The problem with 1-3 is that each rely on the judgement of often under trained officials. #1 and #2 seem to be over penalized because officials seem to see themselves as classroom teachers running a classroom, rather than people officiating a brutal game of football.

[DarterBlue2]

I think our resident official is a prime example of your final paragraph, except I would liken him to a judge (or maybe a stern principal) rather than a classroom teacher. 

[Longtime Observer]

Ultimately, people should be asking, What is the lesson supposedly being taught-or What is the value of whatever lesson is supposedly being taught?- if the things you're calling penalties are not being called penalties at the superior levels of the game?

Interestingly, it seems targeting is almost never called in high school. We all know we're going to see dozens of targeting calls on any given Saturday/Sunday.

[Football Official]

On 11/3/2023 at 8:43 PM, Longtime Observer said:

1) Inconsistent or unclear application of the "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty. It seems at times that if a player merely utters a curse word, it will be a 15-yard penalty. Other times, not so much.

 

 

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

Replay

Unmute

 

Current Time 0:19

/

Duration 0:19

Loaded: 100.00%

 

 

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

Â

1x

Playback Rate

 

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions off, selected

Audio Track

 

Picture-in-PictureFullscreen

This is a modal window.

 

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-Transparent BackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent WindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400% Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow Font FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Too many holding calls

 

3) Invocation of the "water break". Stopping the game at various times benefits or hurts teams differently, depending on the circumstances. An offense with momentum- especially when they play at a fast pace- is harmed by a stoppage after a first down. The defense is  obviously helped. If there were a straightforward time/rule on this, it would help. Tonight, Venice ran a play with about 6:10 to go in the 3rd quarter and was stopped for a short gain. The clock went under 6 minutes, and the QB had to come out due to his helmet coming off. NO water break. Venice runs a 3rd down play with about 5:25 to go, stopped. Clock runs under 5 minutes...still no stoppage, as Venice keeps its offense on the field. Venice tries to draw CAI offsides with no luck, clock continues to run with no water break. Venice runs 4th down with 4-something minutes to go. They convert and get out of bounds and THEN they call the water break. In other situations, I've frequently seen the water break called with 6 and  a half minutes left in a quarter.

4) of course general competence and clock management remains an issue.

The problem with 1-3 is that each rely on the judgement of often under trained officials. #1 and #2 seem to be over penalized because officials seem to see themselves as classroom teachers running a classroom, rather than people officiating a brutal game of football.

High school official here:

1. Yes, the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty has a bit of judgement with it. The rule book officially says, “No player shall… Use profanity, insulting language, or vulgar language or gestures.” So by rule, any curse word heard could be flagged. I can’t speak to the officials at the games you’re going to, however, typically in our association, we try to only throw that flag if the language includes a racial slur or if the vulgar language is directed at someone in particular. 
 

2. So by too many, do you mean your favorite team gets called for it a lot or just in general? Most football fans will agree holding happens on every play. Again, in our association, we try to only get holds that affect the play. Example, run to the right side of the field and a LT holds. An LT holding probably doesn’t affect the run to the right. However, that is not specified in the rule book. So if an official sees it, they can call it. So if a hold is there, it can be called. 
 

3. Water breaks happen as close to the 6 minute mark as possible. Sometimes, yes. That could be a high at 6:30 if the referee feels that stoppage in the game is the best we will get around that time. Sometimes if a drive is ongoing, it may have to wait a bit. In your example, no a water break should not have been called when a player’s helmet came off because that is not a stoppage in play. That is in the middle of a drive. It sounds as though based on your example, they waited until the next stoppage of play (first down) to call for a water break. I have absolutely no issue with how that was handled. 
 

4. Would love more competence and clock management examples. Those are broad terms. Both coaches and fans also do not have competence at times. Do officials make mistakes? Absolutely. We are human. I do hope they strive to be as perfect as you seem to be. 
 

As far as your targeting comment, we do not have replay in high school football to be able to confirm or deny a targeting call. So it is solely the judgement of the covering official. We try not to call targeting unless it is egregious to avoid a high school player having to sit out the rest of the game for a 50/50 call. That’s why most of the time, we side with no targeting rather than targeting. It’s hard to see all aspects of targeting and make a decision in a split second. 
 

Different levels of football have different rules and points of emphasis. So comparing high school officiating to college/NFL is apples and oranges. We have a motto in our association, “Be the change you want to see.” That’s how we try to recruit new officials because of the shortage we are having. So if you are that unhappy with officiating, sign up to be an official. You can help to make changes you would like to see. You can also see how difficult it is. I was a fan and had season tickets to a team before I became an official. Like you, I thought they were terrible most of the time.  Now I see how difficult it is and it allows me to be more patient with officials when I watch football. 

[Longtime Observer]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:10 AM, Football Official said:

High school official here:

1. Yes, the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty has a bit of judgement with it. The rule book officially says, “No player shall… Use profanity, insulting language, or vulgar language or gestures.” So by rule, any curse word heard could be flagged. I can’t speak to the officials at the games you’re going to, however, typically in our association, we try to only throw that flag if the language includes a racial slur or if the vulgar language is directed at someone in particular. 
 

2. So by too many, do you mean your favorite team gets called for it a lot or just in general? Most football fans will agree holding happens on every play. Again, in our association, we try to only get holds that affect the play. Example, run to the right side of the field and a LT holds. An LT holding probably doesn’t affect the run to the right. However, that is not specified in the rule book. So if an official sees it, they can call it. So if a hold is there, it can be called. 
 

3. Water breaks happen as close to the 6 minute mark as possible. Sometimes, yes. That could be a high at 6:30 if the referee feels that stoppage in the game is the best we will get around that time. Sometimes if a drive is ongoing, it may have to wait a bit. In your example, no a water break should not have been called when a player’s helmet came off because that is not a stoppage in play. That is in the middle of a drive. It sounds as though based on your example, they waited until the next stoppage of play (first down) to call for a water break. I have absolutely no issue with how that was handled. 
 

4. Would love more competence and clock management examples. Those are broad terms. Both coaches and fans also do not have competence at times. Do officials make mistakes? Absolutely. We are human. I do hope they strive to be as perfect as you seem to be. 
 

As far as your targeting comment, we do not have replay in high school football to be able to confirm or deny a targeting call. So it is solely the judgement of the covering official. We try not to call targeting unless it is egregious to avoid a high school player having to sit out the rest of the game for a 50/50 call. That’s why most of the time, we side with no targeting rather than targeting. It’s hard to see all aspects of targeting and make a decision in a split second. 
 

Different levels of football have different rules and points of emphasis. So comparing high school officiating to college/NFL is apples and oranges. We have a motto in our association, “Be the change you want to see.” That’s how we try to recruit new officials because of the shortage we are having. So if you are that unhappy with officiating, sign up to be an official. You can help to make changes you would like to see. You can also see how difficult it is. I was a fan and had season tickets to a team before I became an official. Like you, I thought they were terrible most of the time.  Now I see how difficult it is and it allows me to be more patient with officials when I watch football. 

1) This area is obviously ripe for abuse, or imbalanced/unfair enforcement. Particularly when you consider that it is a whopping 15-yard penalty. And, the disparity with which it is called at the high school level (in Florida, anyway) as contrasted with the superior levels of the game is telling.

2) "too many"  refers to the much higher frequency of holding calls as compared to superior levels of the game. Many times a game, every game, at the superior levels of the game I see plays that would be flagged for holding at the high school level in Florida go uncalled and ignored by commentators.

3) Again, consistency is key here. And there is none of that when it comes to the water break. The QB having to come out of the game due to helmet removal should more than suffice as a break point...

4) Examples in this area are abundant every Friday night. Nearly all games-maybe indeed all games- have many extensive delays where the officials either don't know what to do, or don't announce any reason for the delay, etc. It's an obvious point of differentiation from the superior levels of the game. And, I don't recall anything like it even out here in California high school ball. In Florida, if you drop in on any game stream at any given time, the most likely thing you'll see is a field where everyone is standing around, with no play happening, and nothing in particular happening.  

This idea of there being "...different points of emphasis" is something I am concerned about. What is being emphasized differently (of course I note some things here). Why is that?

At the superior levels of the game, it seems clear there is some acknowledgement that officials can go too far in ruining the flow of games, and the fan's viewing experience. In Florida, at the high school level, it seems to be almost the opposite approach. Officials seem to have utter disdain for fans, and actually enjoy interfering with the flow of games.

I think much of the current philosophy of officials in Florida needs to be revisited. By all means, improvements to pay, working conditions and training are warranted. But, those upgrades must be accompanied by a higher quality of officiating.