Football Follies

October 7, 2014

Notice reached the MHSAA office of a so-called “2014 Michigan Youth Football Classic” that invites youth league teams to “a great weekend of youth tackle football.” For $450 per team, youth football teams will bang bodies for two days – Nov. 8 and 9 – with each team guaranteed at least three games. Three!

No level of football but this – for the youngest players who have the most vulnerable skulls – allows the idiocy of three games in a weekend. Most limit competition to a maximum of one game in a week!

In my opinion, this isn’t a football classic. It’s child abuse.

I wish the foolishness would stop there, but even an organization called USA Football seems to have lost its head. Initially and mostly with funding from the NFL, USA Football was focused on teaching youth football coaches and players safe blocking and tackling techniques. Good.

But now this pseudo-national governing body for amateur football is planning events for various age groups that will extend tackle football practices and games throughout what used to be an off-season. Multiple competitions in tackle football are scheduled for high school age players in January, February and July of 2015.

At a time when professional, college, school and Pop Warner football are all reducing contact during practices in-season, USA Football wants to expand the contact experience out of season. It makes about as much sense as three games in a weekend.

Be the Referee: Catch or No Catch

By Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director

September 16, 2021

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Catch or No Catch - Listen

Catch … or no catch. It’s a decision that must be made in a split second and can be one of the most difficult decisions a football official has to make – especially one along the sidelines.

In high school, for a catch to be considered complete the receiver must:

Have possession and control of the ball AND

One foot or other body part must first come down in bounds.

This means that if you are forced out of bounds while in the air and with possession of the ball, it is NOT a catch. A defender can legally knock an airborne receiver out of bounds to prevent a completion. The receiver has to get one foot – or other body part – down in bounds for it to be ruled a complete catch.

Previous editions

Sept. 9: Intentional Grounding – Listen
Sept. 2: Pass Interference – Listen
Aug. 26: Protocols and Mechanics – Listen

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