NFHS - Rule Changes for 2009 Season

Monday, February 16, 2009

iHigh.com reports on February 16th that the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has included in a group of ten total rule changes for the 2009 football season a ban on the use of horse-collar tackling.

The new provision – added to existing Rule 9-4-3 – now makes it illegal for a defender to grab another player’s shoulder pads or jersey and subsequently pull the latter to the ground. Should such an infraction take place, the new regulation states that a 15 yard penalty will be assessed from the spot of the foul.

The move comes in response, says Julian Tackett, head of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and chair of the NFHS Football Rules Committee, to a call for the NFHS to better address risk minimization issues within the rules-writing process of the organization.

Says Tackett, “Though this play [horse-collar tackling] does not happen often, we must ensure that our coaches and officials understand the importance of penalizing this act.”

Other changes discussed and approved by the Rules Committee include:

• Making illegal the grabbing of an opposing players’ chin strap, facemask, or edge of the helmet-opening in order to assist in making a tackle.
• A change in Rule 9-8-3 intended to decrease the chance of serious injury to sideline personnel by setting the maximum number of coaches in the restricted area to communicate with players during dead-ball situations to three. Before the ball becomes live, all three now must also retreat into the team box.
• A clarification to Rule 9-8-1g which states that the mandatory three-minute warm-up period begins immediately following the conclusion of halftime. For coaches who do not have their team back on the field by the start of the warm-up period, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty will be assessed.
• An adjustment in Rules 7-2-5 and 2-14-2 addressing the legality of the A-11 offense and its application of a numbering-exception rule applied to scrimmage-kick formations as originally introduced by the committee back in 1982.
• A detailed explanation of Rule 1-3-1c stating that the stripes located on a football must be adjacent to and perpendicular to the seam upon which the laces are stitched. Rule 1-2-3b adds that all required field markings must be clearly visible at all times, even when other markings such as logos are place on the field.
• A modification to Rule 3-3-4b5 such that if a penalty resulting in a safety occurs on the last time down of a period, the period will not be extended.
• An amendment to current rules related to the enforcement of dead-ball and unsportsmanlike fouls occurring during or after a play resulting in a touchdown. Offended teams will now be provided the option of enforcing the penalty on the ensuing kickoff.
• An exception to Rule 9-7-2 maintaining that a kicking team will be charged with illegal batting of the ball if it bats a scrimmage kick not yet grounded unless the ball is batted by the kicking team in the direction of its own goal line.