National Gay Flag Football League

We held a conference call with all our members to get thoughts about potential changes to the rules of play. The Board will be voting on these in March to send to the general membership. Take a look and leave any thoughts and comments you have here, or you can send your thoughts to board members.

NGFFL RULES CONFERENCE CALL, FEB. 10, 2010

AGENDA & MINUTES

· Welcome (Jim)
Non-voting call. We want dialogue so everyone will have the chance to have their say.
Guiding principle: Will the rule change make the game better?
Any rule change must pass the board and then must pass the membership (majority rules).

· Insight into rules changes, bylaws (Jim)
Bylaws regarding rules changes, philosophy, intent of rules.
Guidelines of the call. Speaking up, identifying yourself.

· Director of Rules remarks (Shawn)
Shawn works closely with Lance.
His priority is safety-first. If there’s a dangerous rule, he wants to know about it.
Also, generally accepted practice that football leagues follow.
Can the rule be easily and effectively enforced?

· Head Official remarks (Lance)
Referees will enforce the rule as written.

· Minor “housekeeping” of current rules (Shawn/Lance)
These don’t make sense and are recommended for change:

o Rule says if the punt goes out of the side of the end zone, the receiving team can ask for another kick.

o Rule says if the ref blows the ready-for-play and the clock runs out, the team gets one last play.

· Rules-change proposals

o Downfield blocking, allow one chuck within 5 yds of LOS (Shawn)
Shawn wants to remove all downfield blocking.
Shawn: It’s a difficult rule to officiate.
Chris W: Was frustrated by the rule because it was called differently in the past.
Cyd: It doesn’t causes injury and we should change what makes it tough to officiate if that’s a problem, but not remove it.
Jim: Has never seen it as a problem.
Lance: Legal blocking leads to rougher blocking.
Wade: Didn’t like the grey area of last year. It needs to be clear, one way or another. When you add parameters, it makes it a grey area. Either make DF blocking legal or not legal.

o Flag guarding, administer a 5-yd penalty with LOD (Shawn)
Shawn: Right now, it’s a dead play; Only rule with no yards attached.
Make it same as illegal forward pass?
Brad from Boston: They make it 5-yard penalty and LOD.
Cyd: Lots of incidental flag-guarding is called.
Shawn: In offense’s best interest to commit flag-guarding. Need to train referees to call it accurately.
Whether it’s intentional or not, it’s flag-guarding.
Jason K: Doesn’t see need to change it. Offensive player’s best interest is to move out of the way, not commit flag-guarding.
Lance: Only flag league that did not have a yardage penalty for flag-guarding.
Leeron: The most over-looked penalty and penalty you’re most likely to get away with is flag-guarding.

o End zone punt rule, will explain on the call (Shawn)
Doesn’t make sense to anyone.

o End-of-half timing discrepancy (Lance)
Doesn’t make sense to anyone.

o Eliminating the 5 plays at the end of each half and giving each team
a third timeout per half (Cyd)
Shawn: Is in support of this. Replace it with NCAA timing rules. First down, clock stops. Out of bounds, clock stops. In last 5 minutes.
Jim: Don’t have visible clocks. Don’t have clock controversies now, this introduces potential controversies. Without a visible clock, it could be controversial.
Brad in Boston: Clock can become a problem at the end of each half. In Boston, first half ends with one play.
Thurman: Leaning toward changing it, but it boils down to whether you trust your referees. Refs need to make sure everyone knows how much time is left.
Jim: Will this make the game better?
Wade: In favor of having the one play. The issue is the referees messing the clock up, so have just one play.
Chris: Would like to keep one or two plays.
Jim: Five had been chosen because it’s one more than a full set of downs.
Lance: Clock stops on first down until ball is ready for play. Clock also stops on out-of-bounds and incomplete pass.
Moving the box is time-consuming.
Board will craft something that makes sense.

o Returning to the way downfield contact was called in every Gay Bowl until this past year (Cyd)
Thurman: Depends on who is calling the game.
Lance: Instruct referees to give everyone the chance to play football. The refs are not told to throw PI on players who touch other players.

o Reducing the width of the field to 30 or 32 yards (Cyd)
Leeron: The box contributes to that.
Shawn: Facilities are often lined for 35 yards.
Jim: Fields have always been marked fresh for the tournament itself. They are wide fields.
San Diego, Chicago, Phoenix use 35.
Boston, New York, Atlanta, Salt Lake use 30.

o Having the box disappear after the rusher crosses the line of scrimmage (Cyd)
Thurman: Likes it. The game is an offensive game and puts limitations on the defense. Would eliminate confusion.
Lance: Would like to eliminate the box.
Lots of other cities have the 5-yard mark-off already; Some still use the box.
Jim: The box helps teams with developing teams with weaker QBs. The rule change makes it harder for quarterbacks. Could make strong teams stronger, weak teams weaker.
Jered: Texas prefers to get rid of the box and rush from 5 yards back. Makes the game more interesting. It equalizes the defense a little bit.
Shawn: Supports all the arguments. Needs to think about the QB’s advantage.
Cyd: Could say the QB cannot cross the line of scrimmage until the rusher does.
Molly: Box was made stronger in NY to prevent too much contact.

o Allow first downs in overtime (Jim)
Molly: Would like it.
Jim: Rest of the game allows first downs, in overtime suddenly doesn’t allow it.
Leeron: Third overtime you have to go for 2.
Lance: The more things are consistent, the better. If the rest of the game has first downs, overtime should.

o Zone line-to-gain (Lance)
Lance: Slightly easier to manage the game without chains.

· Next Steps (Jim)

Holding: Grabbing at the runner with one arm and grabbing the flag with the other.

Lance is voted in as head referee.