International Federation of American Football Football Rules and Interpretations 2014-15 Edition
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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL FOOTBALL RULES AND INTERPRETATIONS 2014-15 EDITION Foreword The rules are revised each year to improve the sport’slev elofsafety and quality of play,and to clarify the meaning and intent of rules where necessary.The principles that govern all rule changes are that theymust: •besafe for the participants; •beapplicable at all levels of the sport; •becoachable; •beadministrable by the officials; •maintain a balance between offense and defence; •beinteresting to spectators; •not have a prohibitive economic impact; and •not be unduly divergent from the rules adopted by NCAA in the USA. These rules apply to all IFAF organised competitions and takeeffect from 1st March 2014 Forbrevity,male pronouns are used extensively in this book, but the rules are equally applicable to female and male participants. Tommy Wiking, IFAF President 2 TableofContents Rules changes...........................................................................................................................................................4 Points of emphasis ...................................................................................................................................................6 The Football Code....................................................................................................................................................8 Rules and Interpretations .......................................................................................................................................11 Rule 1 — The Game, Field, Players and Equipment.........................................................................................13 Rule 2 — Definitions .........................................................................................................................................25 Rule 3 — Periods, Time Factors and Substitutions ...........................................................................................42 Rule 4 — Ball in Play,Dead Ball, Out of Bounds.............................................................................................60 Rule 5 — Series of Downs, Line to Gain ..........................................................................................................64 Rule 6 — Kicks..................................................................................................................................................68 Rule 7 — Snapping and Passing the Ball ..........................................................................................................82 Rule 8 — Scoring...............................................................................................................................................97 Rule 9 — Conduct of Players and Others Subject to the Rules.......................................................................107 Rule 10 — Penalty Enforcement .....................................................................................................................126 Rule 11 — The Officials: Jurisdiction and Duties...........................................................................................135 Rule 12 — Instant replay .................................................................................................................................136 Summary of penalties ..........................................................................................................................................145 Officials’ Signals..................................................................................................................................................150 Appendix A — Guidelines for Game Officials to Use During a Serious On-Field Player Injury.......................153 Appendix B — Guidelines for Game Officials and Game Management ToUse Regarding Lightning..............154 Appendix C — Concussions................................................................................................................................157 Appendix D — Field Diagrams ...........................................................................................................................159 Appendix E — Equipment: Additional Details ...................................................................................................165 IndexofRules and Interpretations.......................................................................................................................167 3 Rules chang es Major chang es The list belowshows rule number,description of the change, and page number in this book. 1-1-7-a Rules apply to member federation competitions 14 1-2-1-g Yard lines and hash marks must be visible 14 1-2-6 Logos allowed on pylons 16 1-4-2-d Player must report changed number 19 1-4-4-c-3 Numbers must be in contrast to jerseycolour 20 1-4-6-a-1 To wel minimum size specified 21 1-4-6-c Non-clear glasses and goggles prohibited 21 1-4-13 Wireless communication for officials allowed 24 2-3-3 Not a chop block if initiated by defense 26 2-3-7 Low-Blocking Zone: newdefinition 26 2-4-3 Catch: revised definition 27 2-27-14 Defenseless player: additional definitions 39 2-35 Targeting defined 41 3-2-4-c-13 Play clock after helmet off 47 3-3-2-e-16 Clock stops when helmet comes off 49 3-3-5-f 10-second subtraction after player injury 51 3-3-9 Helmet off-10-second subtraction 52 4-1-2-b-2-b Fumble can be awarded to recovering team after inadvertent whistle 60 4-1-2-b-3-b Pass or kick can be awarded to recovering team after inadvertent whistle 60 6-1-1 Kickofffrom 15-yards from midfield 68 6-1-2-b Kickers must be within 5 yards of their restraining line 68 6-4-1-b Kick catch interference: interference box 77 6-4-1-f Kick catch interference: free kick 77 6-4-1-g Kick catch interference: targeting 77 7-3-2-g Pass to conservetime: penalty nowjust loss of down 88 9-1-3 Targeting results in disqualification 107 9-1-6 Blocking belowthe waist 109 9-1-11-c Player may not leap overshield to block a punt 112 9-1-17 Continued participation without helmet 114 9-2-1 Unsportsmnalikeconduct: additional offences 115 9-3-2-b Pushing a teammate is no longer assisting the runner 119 10-2-3-b Postscrimmage kick enforcement 130 12-3-5-c Clock adjustment at the end of anyquarter 140 4 Rules changes 5 NewApproved Rulings A.R. 1-4-2:I A.R. 3-4-4:V A.R. 6-3-13:I A.R. 7-1-4:IV A.R. 9-1-4:III A.R. 3-3-2:VI A.R. 3-5-2:VII A.R. 6-3-13:II A.R. 7-1-4:V A.R. 9-1-4:IV A.R. 3-3-5:VIII A.R. 3-5-2:VIII A.R. 6-3-13:III A.R. 7-1-4:VI A.R. 9-1-4:V A.R. 3-3-5:IX A.R. 3-5-2:IX A.R. 6-4-1:VI A.R. 7-3-2:IX A.R. 9-1-4:VI A.R. 3-3-9:I A.R. 3-5-3:V A.R. 6-4-1:X A.R. 7-3-2:X A.R. 9-1-6:V A.R. 3-3-9:II A.R. 5-2-7:V A.R. 6-4-1:XI A.R. 8-2-1:X A.R. 9-1-6:VI A.R. 3-3-9:III A.R. 6-1-2:VII A.R. 6-4-1:XII A.R. 8-5-1:IX A.R. 9-1-6:VII A.R. 3-3-9:IV A.R. 6-1-3:II A.R. 6-4-1:XIII A.R. 8-5-1:X A.R. 9-1-6:VIII A.R. 3-4-4:IV A.R. 6-3-4:V A.R. 6-5-2:III A.R. 8-6-1:III A.R. 9-1-6:IX Editorial chang es The following list shows those rules that have been subject to editorial change, i.e. deletions, corrected errors, clarifications due to interpretation and items rewritten for readability.The list also includes those ApprovedRulings altered to conform with rule changes. 1-1-1-b-2 A.R. 4-2-1:II A.R. 6-2-2:IV A.R. 9-1-4:I 1-2-1-c 4-2-4-d A.R. 6-3-2:IV A.R. 9-1-6:I 1-2-1-i 5-1-1-a 6-3-13 A.R. 9-1-6:II 1-3-2-f 5-1-1-e-2 6-4-1-a A.R. 9-1-6:III A.R. 1-4-7:III 5-1-2 6-4-1-c A.R. 9-1-6:IV 2-2-4-b 5-1-3-a 6-5-2 9-1-16 2-19-2-b A.R. 5-1-3:I 7-1-5-a-1 9-1-16-a-2 2-20 5-2-1 7-1-5-a-4 9-3-3-c 2-27-4-d-1 5-2-2 7-2-4-c 9-4-2 2-27-4-d-2 5-2-3-a 7-3-2 9-4-4 2-27-5 5-2-3-b 7-3-2-e 9-5-1-a 3-1-3-d 5-2-7 7-3-2 Penalty 9-5-1-b 3-2-4-c-6 6-1-2-a 7-3-2 Penalty 9-5-1-c 3-3-2-e-4 6-1-2-c-3 A.R. 7-3-2:II 10-1-4 3-3-2-e-10 6-1-2-c-4 A.R. 7-3-2:III 10-1-4 Exception 1 3-3-2-e-17 6-1-2-c-5 A.R. 7-3-2:IV 10-1-4 Exception 2 A.R. 3-3-2:I A.R. 6-1-2:IV 7-3-3 10-2-2 A.R. 3-3-5:II 6-1-7 7-3-6 10-2-2-b 3-3-7-g 6-1-11 7-3-8-c A.R. 10-2-2:VIII 3-4-2-a 6-1-12 8-2-1-c 10-2-4 3-4-4-a 6-2-1 8-3-3-b-1 10-2-5-c 3-4-4-e A.R. 6-2-1:I 8-3-4-a A.R. 10-2-5:IV 3-5-2-d A.R. 6-2-1:II 8-5-1-a 12-3-2-e-1 A.R. 3-5-2:I 6-2-2 8-6-2 12-3-3-d A.R. 3-5-2:IV A.R. 6-2-2:I 8-7-2-b-2 Exception 1 12-3-3-h 3-5-3-b A.R. 6-2-2:II A.R. 9-1-3:I 12-3-5-c-2 NCAA rule chang es not adopted byIFAF NCAA rule number IFAF difference 1-4-2-e Two players in same position can wear the same number 3-2-5 No minimum time for a play after spiking 6-1-7-b/8-6-2 All touchbacks are from the 20-yard line Points of emphasis For2014-15, the Rules Committee wishes coaches, players and officials to takeparticular note of the following points. Sideline control The Rules Committee requires competitions and teams to enforce strictly the rules regarding the the team area and coaching box (Rule 1-2-4-a, back of the limit lines between the 25-yard lines), and the space between the limit lines (Rules 1-2-3-a and 1-2-3-c, 12 feet outside the sidelines and the end line) and the sidelines. These field-levellocations must be kept clear of persons who have nogame responsibilities. The field levelisnot for spectators.