Breaking Huddle w/ 12 Players (Federation Rules)

[Adjudicator]

Note to all high school and junior high school football coaches:  Breaking the huddle with more than eleven (11) players is not a foul by NF rules.  Please feel free to read your rule book AND understand this rule.  I am sick and tired of hearing this every Thur. and Fri. night from coaches who do not know the rule.  This is a rule for games played on Sat (NCAA). Not for us who play the game on Fridays! It is rule 4-1-7 Art. 1-6 on page 48 of the NF rule book.  PLEASE READ!

[olemissjacket99]

got a link so I can show others in need --thanks

[MrOfficial]

got a link so I can show others in need --thanks

Here you go - straight from the AAA
http://ahsaa.org/article.asp?articleID=151

[HORNET FAN]

 I heard this same thing at a game last week.

[Adjudicator]

I heard this same thing at a game last week.

What game was this?

[HORNET FAN]

It was at the Harrisburg- Greenland game.

[madbomber29]

Sure is called often for it to not be a rule.

[parpar]

Last comment on this until the rule changes:

Guys, 12-men in the huddle can be both legal and illegal in high school ball.  It is illegal if the substituted player doesn't leave "immediately", whether the huddle has broken or not.  It is legal if there are 12-men in the huddle momentarily (generally intrepreted as less than 3 seconds) and then the substituted player leaves, whether at the same time the others leave the huddle or not.

So it is very possible that fans may see a huddle break with 12 men in it, and the referee correctly throws the flag, or correctly doesn't throw the flag.  The penalty is for illegal substitution, not the action of twelve men breaking the huddle. the determination is made based on the action and timing of the incoming sub and the outgoing player, not the action of the other ten players.

Since most hs stadiums in Arkansas are not equipped with a referee speaker system, most fans hear what the PA announcer anounces as the penalty, not what the referee actually tells the coaches.  Just because the PA guy says "Five-yard penalty for 12 men breaking the huddle" does not make it so.

[wawa111]

This is just another one of the many rules in the terrible National Federation Rule Book, that leaves room for a judgement call. Puts the refs in a bad spot. The more room there is for judgement calls, the more you will have inconsistency in officiating. Every official is going to see every situation different!