NFHS Rule Changes 2019-2020

Discussion in 'Referee' started by Kit, Feb 26, 2019.

  1. Geko

    Geko Member

    Sacremento Geckos
    United States
    May 25, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is why I always encourage referees to not give any sort of lecture/statement/request/rant at the coin toss. If the state requires you to say a specific phrase or statement, ok. I get that. If the state requires you to "address sportsmanship in the coin flip meeting" in some vague requirement, then do it with personality. Like "Our state requires me to bring up sportsmanship here, so I now have. But I'm sure you guys don't need a lecture from me about sportsmanship so I won't." But no matter what, that coin flip is a first impression opportunity for players and coaches who may have a wide variety of expectations and discipline. Anything a referee can do to get away from any of them thinking "This guy is some sportsmanship lecturing robot", they should do.
     
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  2. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    Well, almost anything. ;)
     
  3. Geko

    Geko Member

    Sacremento Geckos
    United States
    May 25, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I mean, I have some nice quads, I might wear a little shorter shorts.
     
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  4. Barciur

    Barciur Member+

    Apr 25, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    Here in Eastern PA we are required to read the whole speech and when I try to avoid it the other referee is always appalled and makes sure the whole thing is read. So YMMV I guess.

    I also find that the referees for school often are a very very different animal than those for USSF... in many different ways.
     
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  5. Geko

    Geko Member

    Sacremento Geckos
    United States
    May 25, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, I couldn't remember who had to, but I knew there was at least one state that had a specific script. It's harder for you guys, but hopefully you find a human way to frame it (probably some sort of comical deprecation) and not some dramatic shakespearean reading.
     
  6. Barciur

    Barciur Member+

    Apr 25, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    That's our message...


    "PIAA requires all registered sports' officials to enforce the sportsmanship rules for coaches and contestants. Actions meant to demean opposing contestants, teams, spectators and officials are not in the highest ideals of interscholastic education and will not be tolerated. Let today's contest reflect mutual respect. Coaches please certify to the contest official(s) that your contestants are legally equipped and uniformed according to NFHS rules and PIAA adoptions. Good luck in today's contest."
     
  7. Gary V

    Gary V Member+

    Feb 4, 2003
    SE Mich.
    Anyone ever try: "I am required to read this to you. Please feel free to join in."

    Because if refs have done it as required, the teams should just about know it by heart.
     
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  8. Ickshter

    Ickshter Member+

    Manchester City
    Mar 14, 2014
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Blow whistle 10 minutes before game time. Coaches and players show up
    .
    "Coaches will your players be legally and properly equipped at game time?. Good, It's a beautiful day for soccer, WIAA requires me to talk about sportsmanship, so I just did, *usual chuckle from kids* play hard, play to the whistle. Visiting team, this is heads, this is tails, who's going to call it? Call it in the air. Winner? Kick or pick? X team kicking off going in this direction. Coach, how are you doing introductions? Good luck"

    About 30 seconds total.
     
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  9. Law5

    Law5 Member+

    Mar 24, 2005
    Beaverton OR
    #134 Law5, Aug 21, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2019
    Coaches, by and large, do not want to come to some meeting just as they're trying to get their kids' heads screwed on straight and their faces pointed in the right direction. We do not require them to attend the coin toss. So we get the roster from the coach and ask the magic question earlier. I set a bad example by not reading the sportsmanship script and nobody has ever asked me to do so.

    A while back, the then SDI and I were teaching a clinic in a more isolated area of the state. Discussing the pre-game, one student, the local assignor, actually, said that he tells the players how he's going to call the game, yahda, yahda, yahda. "Now, you might not want to do that." "No, they need to know this stuff." And a young female player and referee, who had just graduated from high school herself, piped up and said, "When you guys talk like that, we're not listening." End of discussion.


    Going back to the original post, the one thing that I found helpful was, the night before the first high school game, re-re-reading the high school rule book sections on when the clock stops and when teams can sub. Those are the ones that can become very public flubs that the coaches always seem to know.
     
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  10. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We do have a scripted sportsmanship card in New York, and it is the same for every sport. I have not read it in a long time. When I used to attempt to read it, I would give it to the home team captain and have him read it!
     
  11. ptref

    ptref Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Aug 5, 2015
    Bowling Green, KY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And then what happens when the kid you give it too does not read very well, or is an English language learner? Now you have just embarrassed that kid in front of the other captains. Not a great way to start a match.

    Kentucky has a similar sportsmanship statement. When possible, it is read over the PA system for all to hear. But nowhere in the instructions that we were given does it say have the student read the statement.
     
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  12. fischietto

    fischietto Member

    Apr 13, 2018
    In NJ we have a script that we read to both teams and coaches. We gather everyone about 5 minutes to kick, ask the coaches if their teams are legally and properly equipped, then read the sportsmanship speech.

    After that, coaches and rest of teams disperse, leaving captains for the coin toss. I have never been involved in a game that did not follow that process. (even JV/freshmen and I think MS).

    If the PA system is being used, a similar but different statement is read to the fans in attendance. We have been instructed that the PA announcement does not allow us to skip our reading.
     
  13. Rufusabc

    Rufusabc Member+

    May 27, 2004
    The Attorney General’s office in our state has mandated the statement be read in it’s entirety and no deviation. I have it memorized. It takes :20 seconds. I don’t do anything else but say it, ask legally and properly equipped, ask captains to stay and get on with it.
     
  14. code1390

    code1390 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 25, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I guess we're an outlier here in NC. Thing's feel a lot more like a USYS match with the players and coaches. Sure you squeeze in the obligatory "will your players be legally/properly equipped", but other than that, we don't have any mandated speech.
     
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  15. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Did you read what I wrote? I said that I don't do that any more.
     
  16. Rufusabc

    Rufusabc Member+

    May 27, 2004
    Law of Unintended Consequences:

    New drop ball procedure in HS is a massive failure so far for me!

    Yesterday, late in a tie game, ‘keeper comes well off his line, out of the area, plays the ball, and his follow thru nails an attacker. No foul, but ‘keeper goes down in a heap, ball goes to near halfway line. I blow to stop for injury. Team in possession is upset, team with injured ‘keeper is upset. Each team surrounds the ensuing drop ball with 4 players each. Can’t wait until this one changes next year.
     
  17. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So how would you handle this last year in a USSF game? You just need to manage it the same way.
     
  18. Rufusabc

    Rufusabc Member+

    May 27, 2004
    There is a HUGE difference in U18-U19 USSF and HS.

    Manage what, exactly? The drop ball?

    I do not say a word on drops. If they want to play it back, it’s up to them. I do not intercede.

    The problem here is they have been told what the new rule is in HS at the coin toss for weeks now. So, they know any number of players can join in.
     
  19. socal lurker

    socal lurker Member+

    May 30, 2009
    That was in the LOTG for eons. And despite being a popular referee test question, I've never seen more than one player from a team try to get involved. Guess you got really lucky on that one. (Though I suppose reading the rule to players repeatedly is likely to give the wise apples ideas. . . .)
     
  20. Law5

    Law5 Member+

    Mar 24, 2005
    Beaverton OR
    And, rather quickly, I think, they will discover that having a mass of people there, all flailing away at the dropped ball, and quickly possibly kicking each other in the process, because there's only room for so many feet there, is not going to produce any result worthwhile. This was possible under IFAB before this year, but nobody did it because it would actually reduce the chances your team will obtain possession.

    I suspect that NFHS will go with the new IFAB rule for next year.

    We do not talk to players about rule changes at the toss or otherwise. The varsity coaches all get a rulebook and I go over the rule changes at their league's pre-season coaches meeting. If they don't tell their players, well, too bad for them.
     
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  21. Rufusabc

    Rufusabc Member+

    May 27, 2004
    Exactly what happened in my drop. Attacking team was fouled AFTER the drop and got a promising service into the area off the DFK.

    We were instructed to give guidance on the new rules during the first week. I will not be doing that starting tomorrow.
     
  22. HoustonRef

    HoustonRef Member

    May 23, 2009
    Having been off the pitch for 3 years I don't know how the exact wording in NFHS or LOTG is for a drop ball now. FWIW. I attended a World Cup match in Mexico City in 1986 - don't recall the teams. What I do recall is that there was a need for a drop ball. A player for each team set up for the drop. The referee turned around and dropped the ball behind his original position.
     
  23. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    NFHS basically now has what IFAB/FIFA had for a few years until June: any number of players can contest a drop ball and the referee cannot determine the outcome of the drop ball.

    Currently, IFAB's drop ball is that the ball is dropped to a player of the last team that touched the ball and the opponents have to be 4 meters away unless the drop ball takes place in the penalty area where it is dropped to the goalkeeper.
     
  24. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here, we don't do any rule explanations at the coin toss. We just ask the coaches if their players are properly and legally equipped, say something about sportsmanship, and flip a coin.
     
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  25. Chaik

    Chaik Member

    Oct 18, 2001
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    I had a "fun" debate with a coach regarding improper vs. illegal equipment. He knew a rule had changed, but couldn't quite grasp that improper doesn't equal illegal. After he got the first team yellow for illegal equipment he spent about 15 minutes not coaching his team, instead quoting at me from the rule book change that he pulled up on his phone every time I ran by. I had no interest in stopping the game to engage on the point.

    At halftime I walked the hard copy of the rule book over to him so he could learn that illegal and improper are different words.
     

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