"Ask the Ref" > "Ask the Ref"
Excessive Celebration rule
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LetsGoRejoice:
Last night we had a 6 year old score a 50+ yard touchdown twice, put his arms in the air, and jump a few times. Each time a flag was thrown, and we attempted the extra point from the 15 yard line. We don't coach the kids to "excessively celebrate" but we also have NEVER had to address it. Do you want to know why? because out of the 30+ touchdowns we have scored this year we have NEVER had a flag thrown. The kids were not warned. The coaches were not warned, so we could address it... instead, the 1st graders see a flag go in the air and are clueless as to what they did wrong. Let me be clear... I am not a fan of show boating, and it is definitely not anything I condone. If better sportsmanship needed to be addressed, or I saw a coachable moment to teach our boys how to be better humans I am going to take it.
In addition to never getting flagged for this, I also never saw it happen in any other game. Was there a new directive going into the playoffs to instruct the referees to flag a player showing a positive emotion to doing something good? If so, do you think we could be alerted of this prior to our season ending in a 2 point loss? "celebration" is not mentioned in the rule book. "conduct" is mentioned 18 times but never addresses this specific scenario. I think we should all be accountable to the kids, at the end of the day this is just a game, but if you are not allowed to put your hands up, or jump up and down we need to be informed prior to the quarterfinals of the playoffs, without a warning. That is not fair to the kids.
I think the referees did a great job, and I am appreciative that we have people to officiate the game. I understand dealing with a shortage isn't easy, and 1st grade is not the top priority.
Director of Officials:
Guess I would have to see what happened, there was no directive sent out to get 1st graders (or any other grade) for excessive celebration or having fun. If you have video please send to bkelleyok@gmail.com
Every Saturday there is a shortage officials with 100+ games, there was no shortage of officials last night - let me know time/location and I will check with the officials on the game.
Shaffer5:
I would have to disagree with this statement as both times the kid scored he did "The Griddy". I understand the frustration with the fact that the game did not end in a manner that you are agreeable with, but it was not addressed after the 1st time and then when it happened the 2nd time the coach clearly stated that "This is 1st grade football and I am not going to take the emotion out of the game for a 6 yr old kid. I guess we will take the flag." Might I add that while reading the rulebook you look into the fact that you cannot freely substitute players in Mighty Mites to "make adjustments". Great game coach, but if you are going to present this as the reason why you lost at least do so with the facts as your account is not an accurate representation of what transpired. You guys had a great run and best of luck to guys going forward.
LetsGoRejoice:
THank you for the response. I am not sure what the "gritty" is, but if it includes putting your hands in the air and jumping up and down then the triggered coach may be right and maybe that's what the 6 year old was doing? Either way, you answered my question, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss new emphasis being put on certain parts of the game. Unfortunately the video that I have ends at the touchdown and is from a parents iphone.
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