INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL FOOTBALL RULES AND INTERPRETATIONS 2020 EDITION 2020.2.4 Foreword The rules are revised each year by IFAF to improve the sport’s level of safety and quality of play, and to clarify the meaning and intent of rules where needed. The principles that govern all rule changes are that they must: • be safe for the participants; • be applicable at all levels of the sport; • be coachable; • be administrable by the officials; • maintain a balance between offense and defence; • be interesting to spectators; • not have a prohibitive economic impact; and • retain some affinity with the rules adopted by NCAA in the USA. IFAF statutes require all member federations to play by IFAF rules, except in the following regards: 1. national federations may adapt Rule 1 to meet local needs and circumstances, provided no adaption reduces the safety of the players or other participants; 2. competitions may adjust the rules according to (a) the age group of the participants and (b) the gender of the participants; 3. competition authorities have the right to amend certain specific rules (listed on page 12); 4. national federations may restrict the above so that the same regulations apply to all competitions under their jurisdiction. These rules apply to all IFAF organised competitions and take effect from 1st March 2020. National federations may adopt them earlier for their domestic competitions. For brevity, male pronouns are used extensively in this book, but the rules are equally applicable to female and male participants. 2 Table of Contents Rules changes...........................................................................................................................................................4 Points of emphasis ...................................................................................................................................................6 The Football Code....................................................................................................................................................9 Rules and Interpretations .......................................................................................................................................12 Rule 1 — The Game, Field, Players and Equipment.........................................................................................14 Rule 2 — Definitions .........................................................................................................................................29 Rule 3 — Periods, Time Factors and Substitutions ...........................................................................................48 Rule 4 — Ball in Play, Dead Ball, Out of Bounds.............................................................................................68 Rule 5 — Series of Downs, Line to Gain ..........................................................................................................74 Rule 6 — Kicks..................................................................................................................................................78 Rule 7 — Snapping and Passing the Ball ..........................................................................................................93 Rule 8 — Scoring.............................................................................................................................................110 Rule 9 — Conduct of Players and Others Subject to the Rules.......................................................................119 Rule 10 — Penalty Enforcement .....................................................................................................................141 Rule 11 — The Officials: Jurisdiction and Duties...........................................................................................150 Rule 12 — Video judge....................................................................................................................................151 Summary of penalties ..........................................................................................................................................155 Officials’ Signals..................................................................................................................................................164 Appendix A — Guidelines for Game Officials for Serious On-Field Player Injuries.........................................167 Appendix B — Guidelines for Game Officials and Game Management To Use Regarding Lightning..............168 Appendix C — Concussions................................................................................................................................170 Appendix D — Field Diagrams ...........................................................................................................................172 Appendix E — Equipment: Additional Details ...................................................................................................178 Index of Rules and Interpretations.......................................................................................................................183 3 Rules changes Major changes The list below shows rule number, description of the change, and page number in this book. Major changes are marked by a box like this. New or modified text is marked in blue (grey when printed in monochrome). 1-2-6 Displaced pylons 18 2-3-7 Blind-side block defined 30 2-34-1-a Tackle box centred on middle lineman 47 3-1-3-e Extra period becomes a try down beginning with the fifth 49 3-1-3-i Mandatory break during extra periods 49 3-3-2-g-1 Running clock starts on ready for play on free kick 56 6-1-10-b Illegal wedge now 2+ players 81 6-1-10-d No foul for illegal wedge if no return 81 6-5-1-a Fair catch on free kick 90 6-5-3-a Invalid signal on free kick 91 9-1-18 Blind-side block now a foul 129 E.5 Knee braces enforcement 178 New Approved Rulings A.R. 1-4-8:IV A.R. 3-4-3:VII A.R. 6-1-2:IX A.R. 7-2-4:III A.R. 9-1-18:I Editorial changes 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 Approved Rulings altered to conform with rule changes. New or modified text is marked in blue (grey when printed in monochrome). 1-2-1-k 1-3-2-b 1-4-5-b-4 2-4-1-a 2-4-3-a-1 2-19-2-b 2-27-14-g A.R. 3-3-2:XII A.R. 3-3-2:XIII 3-3-7-a 4-1-2-b-2 Exception 2 4-1-2-b-3 Exception 2 A.R. 4-1-2:II 4-1-3-g A.R. 4-1-3:IX 4-2-4-d 6-5-1-e A.R. 6-5-3:VI A.R. 9-1-4:III A.R. 9-1-4:X 9-1-6-b-1 A.R. 9-1-6:VI A.R. 9-1-6:IX 9-1-11-b A.R. 9-1-16:VII 10-1-1-a A.R. 10-2-3:IV 12-2-2-a-11 4 Rules changes 5 Summary of differences between NCAA and IFAF rules NCAA Rule IFAF difference 1-2-5-f Procedure for dealing with missing goals. 1-4-11 Drones prohibited. 2-11-3 Definition of batting includes the head. 2-16-10-a Punter needs only be 7 yards deep; kicker/holder need only be 5 yards deep to count as a scrimmage kick formation. 2-27-12 Whether a disqualified player is suspended for the next game is matter for the disciplinary authority. 2-34-1-a The tackle box is centred on the middle lineman, not the snapper. 3-1-1 Pre-game warmups not subject to the rules. During coin toss, teams must remain in the team area. 3-2-4 Play clock reset only if it drops below 20 seconds before ball ready. 3-2-5 No minimum time for a play after spiking. 3-3-2 Running clock. 3-3-7 No short timeouts. 3-3-8 Two-minute warning cannot happen before 2’00. 4-1-2-b Ball may belong to recovering team after inadvertent whistle. Ball may belong to Team B after inadvertent whistle on scrimmage kick. Ignore inadvertent whistle if ball would have become dead anyway in the immediate continuing action. 4-1-3 Ball is dead if players in vicinity believe it is. 6-1-7-b/8-6-2 All touchbacks are from the 20-yard line. × 7-2-5 Fumble/backward pass at rest awarded according to forward fumble principles. 9-1-3&4/9-5-1 No half-game suspensions. 9-1-6-a Larger area for unrestricted blocking below the waist. 9-1-7-c Spot of foul for blocking out of bounds is spot on nearest sideline. 9-2-2 Additional unfair tactics. Two players in same position can wear the same number. 9-2-2-e No disqualification for illegal cleats. 9-2-7 Referee may require persons to be removed from the playing enclosure. 9-6 Flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct fouls can be reviewed for additional sanctions. 12 Video judge rule. This list ignores differences that address field limitations, NCAA competition structures (e.g. conferences) or equipment restrictions. It also ignores minor wording changes that do not have significant effect on the way the game is played. Points of emphasis For 2020, the Rules Committee wishes coaches, players and officials to take particular note of the following points. Officiating mechanics IFAF has adopted, on the recommendation of the Rules Committee, a change to Rule 11-2-2 regarding officiating mechanics. Officiating responsibilities and mechanics are specified in the current edition of the Manual of Football Officiating, published by IAFOA. Officials are responsible for knowing and applying the material in the Manual. The purpose of the rule change is to standardise officiating mechanics, especially across different size crews. The IAFOA manual is the only one that covers crew sizes from 3 to 8. The Rules Committee felt that it was best for officials working international games to do the same