[Cat Daddy]

Looking around at different threads, I am seeing a lot of fans talking about players getting ejected and being suspended. I don't know, but when I played back in the day, you rarely ever heard of a player being ejected. Is this due to stricter officiating, rule changes, or a product of our society in general.

[PHSForever]

Looking around at different threads, I am seeing a lot of fans talking about players getting ejected and being suspended. I don't know, but when I played back in the day, you rarely ever heard of a player being ejected. Is this due to stricter officiating, rule changes, or a product of our society in general.

More than anything, rule changes have led to more ejections.

[footballfever]

Technology and social media are the biggest reason I think. It's so easy for officials to turn it in now and it's so easy for fans to let everyone know about it!!

[TheHotSnakes]

It's mostly because of how the rules have evolved. They've gotten a lot stricter about certain things. And because of a lot of stuff around it all, officials feel more pressed to go with the full punishment when they're involved with those things.

[FBfan4life]

I would hope they suspend players for their actions. When a player removes his helmet and start swinging over the head of another player, you bet he will eject and suspended ( or should be at least ). When a player " spears " an opposing head coach, they better eject and suspend that player too. YES I have seen these incidents live while watching a HS game.

[blue55]

Taunting has become more prevalent. Blocking below the waist, spearing etc. has caused a lot of ejections and/or personal fouls.

[anotherfootballnut]

A rule change this year that I'm sure is getting personal fouls is .. You don't play till the whistle blows if the ref believes the play is over but the whistle hasn't blown and you hit someone that's a late hit now .. We all have been taught since pee wee football to keeping hitting until you hear the whistle but that's not the case now

[Jackson Purchase]

Buddy Ryan said to the echo of the whistle......lol.

[EKUAlum05]

Technology has changed

1) In the past officials had a little more room to be lax or let people off with a warning. When everyone has a camera and with the fear of lawsuits officials have to play it by the book and leave no doubt or else they may take the fall

2) Before information and game discussions were as prevalent it would be easier for someone to not even know a kid was suspended for the previous week. That player missing the game could be chalked up to "Maybe he was hurt" or "he's in the dog house". Now you can find a list of suspended players and odds are someone will discuss the ejection online in a forum like this

3) It's easier to uphold ejections/suspensions. Once again with video everywhere there is no appeal process and having the KHSAA look the other way or having an official agree that maybe he over reacted. I remember a specific example of a Pike Central/Breathitt playoff game a few years back with a bench clearing brawl. Somehow that video was not surfacing at first with a pending huge matchup the next round looming... but it still got out and once it did suspensions were upheld. Ten + years ago you only had two cameras to worry about and if bot Breathitt and PC had wanted to sweep it under the rug the KHSAA may have never seen it.

[Football1]

In 2012 my son was a senior with college offers playing in TN at Gatlinburg Pitman. We were winning and they were frustrated so one of their kids held Codi. Codi swiped the kids hands upward and hit his helmet. He was ejected for fighting and lost 2 games of of his senior season.

I wrote letters and in general made alot of noise about it. To no avail. We met college coaches at those games who came there to see him play. I hope they have made the penalty a less and guidelines more clear for actually constitutes a fight.

[Fly Like a Duck]

The game in general is just officiated much tighter in all aspects of the game than ever before. Whether its coaches coming out onto the field (by the smallest of margins) to instruct players IN BETWEEN plays, to holds (some of these crews couldn't ref a college game to save their lives due to how much they use their hands....if they did, it'd last 8 hours BC of all the holding penalties), to taunting (blatant taunting needs to he taken out, but I've seen many flags that are nothing more than raw emotion/excitement).

With that said, there are still plenty of crews out there that aren't noticed in the game. They keep control..usually set the tone really quick if any issues/keep it safe....and, let the kids play.

[TheHotSnakes]

In 2012 my son was a senior with college offers playing in TN at Gatlinburg Pitman. We were winning and they were frustrated so one of their kids held Codi. Codi swiped the kids hands upward and hit his helmet. He was ejected for fighting and lost 2 games of of his senior season.

I wrote letters and in general made alot of noise about it. To no avail. We met college coaches at those games who came there to see him play. I hope they have made the penalty a less and guidelines more clear for actually constitutes a fight.

I once asked an official about this issue. And he basically said it's only a punch when it's intended to be a fighting punch.

It was after a play in a game I was watching. A kid was trying to strip the ball, and in his attempt to punch it out, he missed solid contact on the ball. Ended up grazing the ball, and landed 90% of the force on the kids chin. The opposing team really wanted that penalty and wanted the kid to be thrown out. No penalty, no ejection, because it simply wasn't intended as "that kind" of punch.

I'm sure some officials get it wrong, as is your case, but I do think that is an issue that probably isn't as covered as it should be. Because it has the risk of getting out of hand and causing more issues. I think you can run the risk of ejecting players on very very bad calls, which no one wants. At the same time, there could be a window opened of cheap shots and such things disguised as mistakes and accidents.




Few people acknowledge the good calls and no-calls when it comes to this stuff. But everybody knows about the bad ones.

[rustyankle]

Refs are to quick to eject kids. If they wasnt a brawl then let them play dont suspend them. These kids only have highschool football once so the refs need to back off on ejections and suspensions

[UK CATS FAN]

A rule change this year that I'm sure is getting personal fouls is .. You don't play till the whistle blows if the ref believes the play is over but the whistle hasn't blown and you hit someone that's a late hit now .. We all have been taught since pee wee football to keeping hitting until you hear the whistle but that's not the case now

That's not a rule change for this year or any other year. That's always been the rule. The play kills itself by the actions of the players, whether it's a knee down, stepping out of bounds, or whatever. The whistle is just an indicator that the play is over. That's all its ever been. Now, they are making it an emphasis to get coaches out of the mindset of playing til the whistle blows but it's always been this way. There hasn't been any rule change whatsoever. Unfortunately, most Pee Wee coaches are ignorant to the rules. They have no training and 99% of them don't even own a rulebook or know where the rules come from. So, that's why you have Pee Wee coaches instructing their players to play until the whistle, even though it's wrong and always has been wrong. Just like you hear coaches telling kids to find someone and hit them until the whistle blows, even if they are not a part of the play at all. They think that everybody on the field is fair game to be hit and that's just not right. At ALL! My favorite though is a coach telling his DB that hwy have 5 yards to "chuck" the receiver. LOL! That's a classic! People watch college and NFL football and think they know the rules. You will quickly learn that you do not have a clue about high school rules unless you officiate. There are over 200 differences between HS and college football and even more between HS, college, and the NFL. Fact is that alot of people THINK they know the rules but are actually clueless about them. No disrespect but this post is completely wrong from start to finish and a prime example of my point. I'm not even sure where you would've hear such craziness, that has always been and always will be a personal foul.

[UK CATS FAN]

Refs are to quick to eject kids. If they wasnt a brawl then let them play dont suspend them. These kids only have highschool football once so the refs need to back off on ejections and suspensions

Wait a second, let me get this straight..... You're saying that unless it's a big brawl, no players should be ejected? Am I reading that correct? If so, that may be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

How about this for ya....How about the players play football instead of fight? They're there to play football. If the want to fight, take up boxing. The officials cant just sit there and let the punches be thrown. That's just ridiculous.

What does the fact that kids only ho through HS once have to do with anything? Ever heard of sportsmanship? You can't just ignore that type of conduct, you would never get through a game because there would be bench clearing brawls EVERY SINGLE game if you just ignored that stuff. That's exactly what would happen.

[groundattack]

The not playing to the whistle is one and player language is another area of emphasis. If an official hears anything they are to flag the player. Even if the player is calling himself some not so nice names due to his play.

I will add officiating is at an all time low. There are several solid officials but there are some that should never ref higher than middle school.

[SoCo]

The game is changing. Officiating is getting more strict. Especially with helmet to helmet contact. With that being said, football is a contact sport. Players are going to get banged up. Unfortunately, injuries are a part of the game and always will be no matter how much we try and control that. As a parent I'm a firm believer in this game. It can change young men's lives. Teach them about life. How to work as a team. How to get back up if you get knocked down. There's no other game like football. And as a parent and a former player, I know you injuries happen. It may be my kid or the parents sitting next to me kids. None of us want anyone's kids to get hurt but it's inevitable. IMO you can tell when a player is actually targeting and trying to hurt someone. In most cases players aren't trying to hurt others. It seems like anymore just because a player makes a vicious hit it's automatically targeting. I don't agree with that and I think that's why there has been so many ejections. To be blunt, I think this new generation has just got soft.