BAFRA Newsflash

http://www.bafra.org

Issue: 31/16

4^th August 2016

NFL CHAIN CREWS – INTERNATIONAL SERIES 2016

The BAFRA Selection Committee received 40 requests from officials to work on these important assignments. It has chosen the following officials to perform chain crew duties at the three NFL games in London this year:

Jacksonville Jaguars v Indianapolis Colts @ Wembley Stadium	New York Giants v Los Angeles Rams @ Twickenham RFU Stadium	Cincinnati Bengals v Washington Redskins @ Wembley Stadium
2/10/16 at 14:30	23/10/16 at 14:30	30/10/16 at 13:30
Dan Holt (Crew Chief)	Phil Hume (Crew Chief)	Henry Richardson (Crew Chief)
Jon Ikins	Susannah Taylor	Frank Thomson
Martin Gibson	Stuart Alger	Alisha Darkins
David Froom	John Griffin	Sean Welsh
James Meredith	Alisha Darkins	John Griffin
Phil Hume	Henry Richardson	Roger Goodgroves
Susannah Taylor	Frank Thomson	Mark Burrows
Stuart Alger	Sean Welsh	Steve Egan

All selected officials must notify me as soon as possible if they become unavailable as individual accreditation is required for each member of the chain crew.

The Committee and Directors would like to thank all the members that applied for this role. We realise some of you have applied several times before but unfortunately it is not possible to offer a position to everyone due to the overwhelming demand.

Richard Vernon

operations@bafra.org

JULY BOARD MEETING

The notes of the July Board meeting are available to read in the members section of the website at:

http://www.bafra.org/members/minutes/eb20160723.pdf.

Paul Sutton

secretary@bafra.org

2016 BOWL GAMES - CORRECTION

There was a mistake in Newsflash last week. The Division 2 Bowl crew should have read as follows:

	Referee	Umpire	Head Linesman	Line Judge	Back Judge	Field Judge	Side Judge
Div 2 North	Mike Cavanagh	Henry Richardson	Roger Brown	Ellis Bowyer	David Knight	Euan Paterson	Alan Christopher

Richard Vernon

operations@bafra.org

FROM FINANCE

BAFRA over the years have purchased equipment, like TVs, cameras and other training and promotional material. I need to create an asset register so anybody holding anything please let me know even if it is now useless/not working.
Please check the invoices being given to teams. Some have been using my old address from 3 years ago. Teams have sent payment to this address and it has gone missing.
Please send all charity payments by 14^th August please.
We are having some problems with payment e mails. This is being worked on. Please check your bank first after Thursday before contacting Finance. Roger can be processing 150 payments a week, and has a life outside football. If by Friday you have not received a payment and have checked with white hat that it was sent in by Tuesday then contact me.

Charles Young

finance@bafra.org

DISCIPLINE UPDATE

Previously Niall Scott-Grant of the London Warriors was suspended for two games. He served the suspension for the first game and has successfully appealed against the second game suspension, and therefore is free to play in this week's game against the London Blitz.

David Knight

DISCIPLINARY CASES

NAME	#	TEAM	CODE	Q		OFFENCE	SUSPENDED
New this week
Rueben Quinn-Williams	99	Manchester Titans Youth	FPF	4	During the second half (of the final game of the tournament) #99 kicked a prone opponent after the play.		Unknown
Previous weeks
Stephen Donaldson-Ellison	19	Lancashire Wolverines	FPF	4		Player was seen to kick an opposition team member while on the floor.	07/08/16 v Coventry Jets
Conley Ross	87	Northumberland Lightening	FPF	3		Player after being legally blocked below the waist, got up and confronted blocker. He then violently and deliberately headbutted blocker/opponent with helmet.	07/08/16 v Newcastle Vikings

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

HOME TEAM	REPORT	NEXT HOME GAME
New this week
Wembley Stallions	Plaudits to Wembley for one of the best gamedays the crew had experienced in some time. The field was basically perfect, the full field was roped off, there was a scoreboard, the officials assistants pro-actively came and introduced themselves, and exceedingly rare in a British game if not a first, we even had an alternate down box operator behind the LJ. Steven Leonard #370	Playoffs?
Norwich Devils	Referees had to share changing room with away team players. Pitch approx. 1 mile from changing rooms. No posts so only 2 point conversions played for. Chains only 9 yards long so played all game with just down box and bean bag. Larry Rigby #269	Unknown
Solent Thrashers	Well marked field, no 4inch gap on 5 yard lines. No PAT marks. 9 yard end zone and post over hang end line by a yard. 1 chain crew change at half time. Philip Hume #52	Unknown
South Wales Warriors	The field is generally well marked out, but has no numbers/9-yard marks or separate players/coaches areas. Amir Brooks #593	Unknown
Sheffield Predators	80 yard field. Various other sports marked on same pitch. No limit lines, no team area, no 3 yard mark, no nine yard marks Dan Holt #371	Unknown
Outstanding items from previous weeks
Leeds Bobcats	80 yard field with blue markings. Lines not wholly straight, sideline has marks did not always line up with middle hash marks. Mike Cavanagh #465	Playoffs?
Merseyside Nighthawks	The hash marks were not always in line across the field and some were significantly shorter than 1 yard apart while others were longer. This resulted in first downs being decided based on the chains. Lee Taylor #183	Playoffs?
Portsmouth Dreadnoughts	The 5 yard marks reached the sideline with no gaps - there were no limit lines and no 3 yard marks. With 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and the score 22-0 to the home team, the visiting team requested that due to mounting injuries the rest of the game should be under a running clock - the home team agreed to this so the running clock was adopted David Knight #135	07/08/16 v Hastings Conquerors
Dundee Hurricanes	Home team provided NFL Duke balls which visiting team agreed to use. Shawn Sombati #15	07/08/16 v Aberdeen Roughnecks
London Warriors	No 9-yard marks or numbers. Hash marks longer than required. No coaching box/team area at all on visiting team sideline; incorrectly marked one on home team sideline. Field uneven and grass needed cutting. Balls very worn. Jim Briggs #31	Playoffs?
Crewe Railroaders	80 yard field only, Crewe had been forced into a late change of field by South Cheshire College although only an 80 yard field plus end zones it was perfectly marked out Richard Whitby #136	14/08/16 v Leeds Bobcats
Kent Exiles	Well marked 100-yard field just missing limit lines and numbers/9-yard marks. Changing room good size but not lockable and shower and toilet not private. Tim Ockendon #481	07/08/16 v Doncaster Mustangs
Tamworth Phoenix	Game abandoned with 7 minutes remaining in the 4^th quarter due to lack of fit linemen for Coventry. Plaudits and thanks to the Coventry players who changed the referee's tyre after the game when a puncture was discovered. Jed Brookes-Lewis #395	07/08/16 v Merseyside Nighthawks
Newcastle Vikings	Kick off delayed by twenty minutes as medical cover was held up in traffic. One ball boy vanished during the fourth quarter. Dan Holt #371	14/08/16 v Dundee Hurricanes
Bournemouth Bobcats	The standing water meant one end line was incomplete and the game was played using only one goal Julian Mallia #336	07/08/16 v Maidstone Pumas
Jurassic Coast Raptors	Small issue with separate changing room for female official but was dealt with very quickly by Home Team Management. Albert Lambert #461	14/08/16 v Torbay Trojans
Bristol Apache	No field numbers and coaches and team areas only go to the 35 yard lines. Mike LeFevre #341	14/08/16 v Cornish Sharks
East Kilbride Pirates	Pitch was found to have numerous lines cut into the pitch for a reason which was unclear. Some of these cuts were deeper than 1 inch and stretched the length of the field the pitch – was deemed unplayable. Fortunately a second pitch at the rugby club was able to be used . So after a delay while this second pitch was marked out to meet minimum requirements the game was able to proceed, but kickoff was delayed by 45 minutes. Credit should be given to the EK Pirates organisation for they way there were able to reline a second pitch in such a short period of time Henry Richardson #25	Playoffs?

END ZONE

PLAY OF THE WEEK:

New this week

Play: A's ball, 2nd and 8, on B's 28. B29 intercepts A12's legal forward pass on B's 3 and his original momentum carries him into B's end zone where he fumbles. B33 recovers on B's 5 while grounded. During the fumble, B77 clipped A94 on B's 15.
Ruling?

Last week

Play: A's ball, 4th and 16, on B's 49. A9's punt is blocked and rolls toward A's goal line. A9 accidentally kicks the ball on A's 26. The ball rolls to A's 6 where B82 bats the ball forward and out of bounds in A's end zone.

Ruling: A's ball on B's 34, 4th and 6. An accidental kick is a muff. B82 commits an illegal batting foul and also provides new impetus to the punt. If the penalty is declined, it is a touchback. The penalty will be accepted. The enforcement spot is the previous spot, B's 49. Team A will have 4th and 6 at the Team B 39 yard line.

MECHANICS:

New this week

Game Situation: 1st and 10 at the Team A 25 yard line. A23 runs a sweep to the Linejudge's side of the field. A23 is brought to the ground at the Team A 28 yard line close to the Linejudge's sideline. The Linejudge does not blow his whistle even though the play appears to be over. How long should the Linesman be prepared to wait before blowing his whistle to kill the play?
Answer next issue...

Last week

Play: On a 7 man crew, when covering a goal line play near the Team A goal line, under what circumstances do the wing men have primary responsibility for the goal line?
Answer: The linejudge has primary responsibility for the Team A goal line from the 7 yard line and in. The Head Linesman has primary responsibility from the Team A 2 yard line and in. If you have responsibility for either team's goal line, immediately after the snap, move directly towards it to rule on the score or an accurate forward progress. (MM 13-5).

CALENDAR

Date	Event	Contact for details
2016
August 27^th (Sat)	Britbowl
19^th November (Sat)	BAFRA Board Meeting	secretary@bafra.org

BAFRA Directors
President	David Parsons	president@bafra.org	General Secretary	Paul Sutton	secretary@bafra.org
Finance	Charlie Dean Young	finance@bafra.org	Operations	Richard Vernon	operations@bafra.org
Recruitment	James Meredith	recruitment@bafra.org	Training	Pete Thom	training@bafra.org
Director without Portfolio #1	Peter Parsons	dwp1@bafra.org	Director without Portfolio #2	Steve Tonkinson	dwp2@bafra.org

The opinions expressed in this Newsflash are those of the contributors, and not necessarily of BAFRA or its Directors.

All Incident Reports to be submitted via www.bafra.org.

Deadline for articles submitted by email (newsflash@bafra.org) is midnight Tuesday.

Editor: Dean Wright - Email: newsflash@bafra.org