Issue 07/23 23rd February 2023
BAFRA Newsflash | |||
BAFRA ANNUAL CONVENTION – SAT 1ST AND SUN 2ND APRIL 2023
Attendance Update
I am pleased to report that the number of people who have registered to attend this year’s Convention has now reached 86. Once Newsflash has been published I will send out the current list of members who have registered, to members. If you haven’t yet registered, please see below for details.
New Members
If you are a new member please don’t feel that this event is not for you. Not only are all members welcome, but also groups and sessions are designed to work for everyone. The Convention offers a great opportunity to meet other officials from around the country, both within groups and socially.
Guest of Honour/Main Speaker
Celebrated PAC-12 Official Francisco Villar will be the Guest of Honour and main speaker at this year’s Convention. He has been an official for 30 years, starting at high school level, and working through Junior College as an umpire, then on to the Mountain West Conference in 2008, again as umpire. He then worked in CFO West and Big XII until 2012, when he joined PAC-12, working as umpire, until 2020 when he was promoted to referee. During his career he has worked 13 post season bowl games, including the First Responders Bowl in 2022. Francisco also worked as umpire in the inaugural ‘return’ of the USFL, and will work as referee for the 2023 XFL season. He has been a clinician at various officiating camps, clinics, and academies since 2013, and enjoys working with and mentoring football officials who want to improve.
Location
The Convention will be held at Yarnfield Park Training & Conference Centre, Yarnfield Lane, Yarnfield, Staffordshire, ST15 0NL. Yarnfield Park is a leading Training and Conference centre in the heart of the UK. I would recommend that you look over the facility on their website where you can find details of the location and directions: https://www.yarnfieldpark.com
Registration
You can now register to attend the Convention at the following link and book accommodation if required: 2023 BAFRA Convention
Administering the registration process and processing payments for accommodation is a time-consuming task given our high attendance figures. As such I would request you register and make your room payments as early as possible.
Accommodation
As mentioned above, we have again negotiated excellent rates for accommodation which are detailed below. The rates indicated are per room, per night and include all discounts and a full breakfast.
Remember, to take advantage of the above rates you must book your room via
Payment
Payment for Convention rooms are due by 12th March. Payment can be made either electronically or by cheque.
Cheques should be for the full amount, made payable to BAFRA Ltd and sent to:
Stuart Tabberer
30 Clover Ground
Bristol
BS9 4UH
If paying electronically, please ensure your payment reference is your full name and BAFRA number e.g., “Stuart Tabberer 348”:
Account Number: 10255350
Sort Code: 16-16-11
Bank Account Name: BAFRA LTD
It is appreciated that some people may wish to spread the cost and make multiple payments over the weeks leading up to 12th March. Please use the same instructions as above. If you wish to make multiple payments, then you must make the payments electronically and not by cheque.
Unfortunately, payment for the Convention cannot be taken from Game Fees. The administration work involved is far too time consuming and does not fit well with our electronic process of paying Games Fees by direct transfer to your bank account.
Friday Night
Most members who attend the convention arrive on a Friday night to save an early rise and travel on the Saturday morning. As such the above rates are available for both the Friday and Saturday nights. I would recommend booking your room as early as possible.
Finally
If you have any questions or queries around the convention, please drop an email to convention@bafra.info and we will get back to you as soon as possible
Ian Sneddon
Convention Delivery Team
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF BAFRA LTD
The Annual General Meeting of BAFRA Limited will be held during the Convention at 5pm on Saturday 1st April 2023. It is open to all members. A full agenda will be circulated to members nearer the time.
Part of the AGM is to decide on the BAFRA Charity for 2023. Any BAFRA member can nominate a charity, if you wish to do so, please email me with your nomination.
In addition, the election of directors for the Company will take place at the AGM. Four posts are due for election this year:
In the case of three of the posts, Director of Finance, Recruitment and Director without Portfolio #2 the present incumbent has indicated that they will be seeking re-election.
As of 11pm on Tuesday 21st February the following nominations for these posts have been received:
Director of Finance
Director of Operations
Ollie Maskell #221 – Proposed by Roger Goodgroves #602 Seconded by Henry Richardson #25
Director of Recruitment
Susannah Taylor #335 – Proposed by Paul Sutton #312. Seconded by Gerry Mellough #79
Director without Portfolio #2
I will provide a further list next week.
These positions are open to all qualified members and nomination forms have been circulated to all qualified members. If you have not received this please contact me.
The Directors encourage all qualified members to consider applying for one of the above four positions. If you are considering standing and would like more information about what is involved, please contact me or, if you prefer, another director for more details.
Richard Moger – General Secretary
FLAG OFFICIATING
The Flag Commission have been working closely with BAFA, BAFCA, and BAFRA in order to build up a database of Flag Officials who are active within the Flag Community, rather than the once a year call to arm that happens.
We have a group dedicated to the education, standards, and operations of Flag Officials for all formats of Flag Football. This will allow more specific exams, training, and standardisation to happen. We have two BAFRA members, Myself and Jed Brookes-Lewis, and Mike Sullivan as part of the Flag Officiating Commission, all with a wealth of experience for this version of the game.
The reason behind this communication is to get Officials, who have already trained and delivered games to the wider BAFA community, and want to get opportunities to support all formats of Flag Football. You will have seen the advertising for the Flag Officiating courses that have gone out for people to take and up skill. Our intention is for BAFRA members to bypass this course and take the exam that we have set in order to show understanding of the rules and join the register of Flag Officials.
If anyone would like more information or already know they want to be involved in Flag Officiating please get in touch at flagofficiating@britishamericanfootball.org.
Richard McEwen - Flag Officiating Commission
flagofficiating@britishamericanfootball.org
DISCIPLINARY CASES
NAME | # | TEAM | CODE | Q | OFFENCE | SUSPENDED | |
Previous weeks | |||||||
Thomas Harburn | 1 | Northumbria Mustangs | TUF | 4 | Player received his first UC forcibly removing a player from a pile during the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, after disagreeing with a call despite being explained to him by the calling official, ran across the field shouting obscenities The player then continued swearing about the officials after leaving the field. | 23th February 2023 v Leeds Gryphons | |
Feranmi Okunlola | 14 | SGS Pride | TUF | 2 | Player committed two UC fouls. The first was for taunting an opponent after he had successfully tackled him. The second was for directing foul and abusive language towards an opponent. | 26th February 2023 v Durham Saints | |
Jax Crawford | 7 | UWE Bullets | FGT | 4 | After a play finished at the SGS sideline, a group of SGS and UWE players converged, some trying to help separate, and some joining in by grabbing opposing players' shirts. #7 was observed swinging his fist at a player who had hold of his shirt. | 26th February 2023 v Newcastle Raiders and next competitive game thereafter | |
GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS
HOME TEAM | REPORT | NEXT HOME GAME |
Outstanding items from previous weeks | ||
Bath Killer Bees | Changing room is adequately sized for a crew of four/five and has its own toilet and showers, but is not lockable. Field is generally well marked out but there weren't any team areas on either side. Amir Brooks #593 Team areas painted too short and too far away from sideline. Changing room not lockable. Stuart Tabberer #348 | 26th February 2023 v Solent Redhawks |
Leicester Longhorns | NFL-width hash marks and coaches’ boxes marked by cones. Game kicked off 30 minutes after advertised time due to a misunderstanding between teams about agreed kickoff time. Joel Pearson #405 | 23th February 2023 v Derby Braves |
Essex Blades | 90-yard field well marked, however blue lines under temporary floodlights were difficult to see in places. Changing rooms were not lockable. Graham Smith #149 | 26th February 2023 v Brunel Burners |
Heriot-Watt Wolverines | Team area lines missing. Cones used to mark out approximate area. Shawn Sombati #15 | 26th February 2023 v York Centurions |
Leeds Gryphons | 80-yard field. No three-yard marks, nine-yard marks, or numbers. Team areas were missing but marked out with cones.Other sports markings were present in close proximity to the endzone. David Hewitt #607 | 26th February 2023 v Edinburgh Predators |
Leicester Longhorns | NF-width hash marks. Coaches' boxes marked with cones. Pete Thom #200 | 26th February 2023 v Derby Braves |
Sheffield Hallam Warriors | The field is marked in red but has been recently redone, meaning the markings are fairly visible. There were white field markings closer than four feet to an end zone line. There were no team areas marked. Two changing rooms were provided each with space for only two persons, neither were lockable. With 9:50 remaining in the second quarter, the game was delayed for 40 minutes due to a serious injury to a Sheffield Sabres player. Jed Brookes-Lewis #395 | 26th February 2023 v LJMU Fury |
PLAY OF THE WEEK: | |
New this week | Play: 3rd and 2 at the B-32. The game clock is running and there are 6 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. Team B has 12 players in the formation, and no Team B player is attempting to leave the field. The ball is ready for play, both teams are in formation and the snap is imminent. Quarterback A10, late in the play clock, is struggling to read the defence and calls a timeout.
|
Last week | Play: Late in the game, Team A are trailing by 4 points and they attempt an onside kick. The ball is kicked into the ground and rolls forward 9 yards to the A-44. A56 blocks B90 above the waist, from the front at the A-46 before the untouched ball is fallen on and recovered by A71 at the A-44 yard line.
While Team A end the down in possession (2-4-1-b-1), they do not end the down in legal possession (2-4-1-c). Therefore ball belongs to Team B at the spot of A71’s recovery (2-4-2 & 6-1-6-a). As the ball belongs to Team B the penalty can be enforced from that spot (6-1-8). The spot where A71 recovers the ball is both the spot of the an illegal touching violation and the dead ball spot. If the penalty for the foul by A56 is accepted the illegal touching is dismissed, however the penalty can still be enforced from the spot where the ball belongs to Team B. The alternative enforcement in this scenario is that the five yard penalty can be enforced from the previous spot and the Free-Kick down repeated, however given the game situation Team B will not want this option, this penalty enforcement should be considered obvious. |
MECHANICS: | |
New this week | Game Situation: 3rd and 5 at the B-40. B run for 3 yards. Team A lined up in an illegal formation. The Referee gives a preliminary signal while a Wing Official explains the options to the offended coach. A Team B captain states they would like to decline the penalty and take 4th down, the Wing official states that the Head Coach would like to accept the penalty and repeat 3rd down. Which option should be taken?
|
Last week | Game Situation: Prior to the game, when visiting the home team Head Coach they inform the Referee and Umpire that if their team are to kick-off at the start of the game they will be attempting an onside kick. At the Coin toss the visiting team wins and elects to receive; should the crew move to onside kick positions? Answer: No. It is not “obvious” that an onside kick will be attempted. An onside kick is only likely or obvious if it is late in the game and the team kicking off is behind in the score (M9.1.a.1). While the crew may be expecting an onside kick, outside observers (including the receiving team) will not be. Switching to Onside Kick positions at a time when it is not obvious could “tip off” the receiving team and grossly disadvantage the kicking team. |
Date | Event | Contact for details |
BAFRA Directors | |||||
President | David Parsons | General Secretary | Richard Moger | ||
Finance | Stuart Tabberer | Operations | Roger Goodgroves | ||
Recruitment | Susannah Taylor | Training | James Ford-Bannister | ||
Director without Portfolio #1 | Peter Parsons | Director without Portfolio #2 | Steve Tonkinson | ||
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.info. Deadline for articles submitted by email (newsflash@bafra.info) is midnight Tuesday. |
