In an effort to continue minimizing
the risk of injury in high school football, three additional rules
will take effect next season to address helmets coming off players’
heads during games.
These three
risk-minimization additions were among 10 rules changes approved by
the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)
Football Rules Committee at its January 18-20 meeting in
Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the
NFHS Board of Directors.
As a follow-up to last
year’s rules change that requires players to sit out one play if
their helmet comes off while the ball is live, the committee
approved three additional rules that are extensions of last year’s
change.
An illegal personal
contact foul was added to Rule 9-4-3 to state that “no player or
nonplayer shall initiate contact with an opposing player whose
helmet has come completely off.”
In addition, a new
listing in Rule 9-6-4 will state that it is illegal participation
“for a player whose helmet comes completely off during a down to
continue to participate beyond the immediate action in which the
player is engaged.”
“With its continued
focus on risk minimization, the committee determined that a
helmet-less player shall not block, tackle or otherwise participate
beyond the immediate action in which the player is engaged when the
helmet came completely off,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS director of
sports and sports
medicine. “The penalty would be a live-ball, basic-spot foul.”
The committee also
added language to Rule 3-5-10 to clarify that if the helmet comes
completely off during the down or subsequent dead-ball action
related to the down – and is not directly attributable to a foul by
the opponent – the player must leave the game for at least one down,
with the exception of halftime or overtime intermission. When this
occurs, an official’s time-out shall be called.
“Player safety has
been and will continue to be the top priority for members of the
NFHS Football Rules Committee,” said Brad Garrett, chair of the NFHS
Football Rules Committee and assistant executive director of the Oregon
School Activities
Association. “These rules changes regarding helmet-less players are
more examples of the group’s commitment to minimize risk within the
game.”
Perhaps the most
significant rules change next season will be one that reduces the
penalty for pass interference. While the 15-yard penalty will remain
for both offensive and defensive pass interference, the loss of down
has been removed for offensive pass interference and the automatic
first down has been eliminated for defensive pass interference.
“Offensive and
defensive pass interference and the penalty structure related to
these fouls has been debated many times in recent years,” Garrett
said. “Proposals that either deleted the loss of down or the
automatic first down – but not both – failed to gain support among
committee members. The proposal to eliminate both components, thus
not upsetting the balance between offense and defense, was the key
factor in the adoption of
the new rule.”
Another change at high
school football
games next year will
be the expanded use of communication devices. In specific
situations, coaches, players and nonplayers will be allowed to use
any form of communication technology.
This expansion of the
rule allows the use of communication devices during authorized
conferences outside the nine-yard marks, on the sidelines and during
the halftime intermission. Use of communication devices by players
except conferences outside the nine-yard mark continues to be
prohibited.
In Rule 2-4-1, the
committee clarified the rule approved last year regarding the
definition of a catch, which stated that a receiver is required to
establish possession of the ball and contact the ground inbounds
while maintaining possession – regardless of the opponent’s action.
“The committee
clarified the definition of a catch such that an airborne player who
has forward progress stopped inbounds and is carried out of bounds
by an opponent before contacting the ground is awarded a catch at
the spot of forward progress,” Colgate said.
In Rule 9-3-8, the
committee added another provision to the rule enacted last year
regarding contact by the kicking team against members of the
receiving team. The new provision stipulates that the kicking team
may initiate contact once the receiving team has initiated a block
within the neutral zone.
The committee also
approved the addition of a 15-yard penalty to the existing option of
accepting an awarded fair catch for kick-catch interference.
Finally, in Rule
8-3-3, the committee clarified that the touchdown scoring team is
the only team that can score on a try, and in Rule 1-5-3 the
committee modified the rule regarding the wearing of towels.
Football is the No. 1
participatory sport for boys at the high school level with 1,121,744
participants in the 2011-12 school year, according to the High
School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS through
its member state associations. In addition, the survey indicated
there were 1,805 girls who played football in 2011-12
