Issue 13/23 5th April 2023
BAFRA Newsflash | |||
RULES & REGULATIONS FOR 2023
A few reminders of things I said at the BAFRA Convention.
The 2023 BAFA rulebook is now in full force. Note that Premier Division games have an additional mandatory medical requirement of an immediate care practitioner as well as at least one first aider for each team. Division 1 teams must also have their own first aider. The identity of a team's first aider(s) should be confirmed with the head coach at the pre-game meeting.
As I said at the Convention, there is a new competition regulation about minimum numbers of players and coaches at kickoff time. For 11-a-side this is 22 and 3. For 9-a-side it is 18 and 3. Once the game has kicked off, the numbers drop to 11/9 and 1.
Otherwise, none of the league regulations has changed this year (i.e. those where the rules allow the league to specify how a game should proceed in certain circumstances). The full list at http://rules.bafra.info/docs/leagueregs.htm is up-to-date.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Jim Briggs - Chair, BAFA Rules Committee
rules@britishamericanfootball.org
MINOR RULEBOOK CORRECTION
A small error has been reported in the 2023 BAFA rulebook. In AR 6-3-11:III, it says "with the down repeated". This should read "with an automatic first down awarded to it".
Unfortunately neither NCAA nor IFAF noticed until now that this AR needed updating as a result of the change to Rule 9-3-4.
Jim Briggs - Chair, BAFA Rules Committee
rules@britishamericanfootball.org
BAFRA AWARDS
At the BAFRA Convention the Annual Award winners were announced as part of the weekend. It is with great pleasure that I can announce the following:
The 2022 Alan Wilson Award which is awarded to the best up and coming Official in BAFRA was won by Emma Payne.
The 2022 Official of the Year Award was won by Alisha Darkins.
Please join me in congratulating both the winners of these awards.
Richard Moger – General Secretary
2023 RULE BOOKS/MECHANICS MANUALS
There has been an issue with the suppliers of the printed rule books and mechanics manuals which means I am waiting for the second half of the order to arrive. I am working with the suppliers to get these as soon as possible. As soon as they arrive with me I will get the hard copies of the rule book and mechanics manual posted out to those who do not have one as a matter of urgency. In the interim, the front page of the BAFRA exam has links to the new rule book and mechanics manual which can be accessed as a pdf to use.
I will provide an update next week.
Richard Moger – General Secretary
OUTSTANDING SUSPENSIONS
With the start of a new season, the list of recent disciplinary action and outstanding suspensions has been updated at the bottom of this Newsflash. As per the members handbook (https://www.bafra.info/info/handbook/gameday.php), please remind teams that they should mark a suspended player on the roster. If a team insists a player is entitled to play, show the coach the edition of Newsflash that lists the suspension and stress to him that it is BAFRA's accepted journal of disciplinary actions. You should take all reasonable steps to talk the coach out of playing the player, but if the player plays, allow them to play (i.e. don't eject them on the first play) and report it as a misconduct incident. Note on the Incident Report what you said to the coach.As a reminder, suspended players are permitted to stand in the team area, assist the team (e.g. as a Water Carrier) however there is no requirement for them to be present on game day. Any non-players (i.e. Coaches) may not be present at the game site in any capacity at any time.
If a participant still has an outstanding suspension from the BUCS season to serve, they may not be listed below if the Disciplinary team have not been made aware. They should serve their suspension in the first game they are registered to play in. If a team informs you that they have a member who with and outstanding suspension to serve, but are not listed below, please report this in the usual manner.
Ben Griffiths - BAFA Disciplinary Officer
discipline@britishamericanfootball.org
DISCIPLINARY CASES
NAME | # | TEAM | CODE | Q | OFFENCE | SUSPENDED | |
Previous weeks | |||||||
Gareth Thomas | 8 | South Wales Warriors | FGT | 1 | With 10:00 remaining in the first quarter, #8 was seen to throw a punch at an opponent during the act of tackling. The officials agreed that they did not see the act as an attempt to dislodge the ball and it was intentionally at the opponent's body. | 30th April 2023 v Bournemouth Bobcats | |
Adam Wilkin | HC | Darlington Steam | MIS | OT | During Extra Periods Mr Wilkin made abusive remarks towards the Match Officials. (At the time of the Offence, Mr Wilkin was coaching the Gateshead Senators U19 team) | 9th April 2023 v Yorkshire Rams & 23rd April 2023 v Scunthorpe Alphas * As this was a disqualification of a non-player, this is a whole game day suspension as opposed to just a playing suspension. Mr Wilkin may not be present at the game site in any capacity. | |
GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS
HOME TEAM | REPORT | NEXT HOME GAME |
New this week | ||
Bath Killer Bees | Changing rooms are not lockable. Team areas are marked out too far from the sidelines. Amir Brooks #593 | Unknown |
Leigh Miners | Officials changing room was far too small for a crew of five, a crew of three would have struggled. The crew waited for one of the teams to exit the changing room before dressing for the game and storing their bags in the officials room. None of the changing rooms were lockable. 80-yard field marked in blue with the coaches and players boxes too close to the sideline and marked to the 15-yard lines. Lee Taylor #183 | 9th April 2023 v Lincolnshire Bombers |
Liverpool Raptors | 90 yard field. No three-yard marks, nine-yard marks, or numbers. Team areas were marked out with cones. Other sports markings were present in close proximity to the endzone. All three game balls needed adjusting prior to kick off. David Hewitt #607 | Unknown |
Nottingham Gold | Team areas correctly marked but too close to the field. Brian Yates #29 | Unknown |
Sussex Saxons | 90 yard artificial pitch with faint blue markings. Two of the home team's balls were deflating, so the away team were asked to provide correct pressure balls to play with. Viktor Janvari #63 | Unknown |
Worcester Royals | One match ball was replaced it had become flattened during play. Richard Whitby #136 | Unknown |
PLAY OF THE WEEK: | |
New this week | Endzone will return when the BAFRA Exam Period is over. |
Last week | Play: Team A, 1st and 10 at the A-20 yard line. Team A are leading 33-0. Running Back A37 runs for 3 yards to the A-23 yard line and is tackled inbounds. During the play B94 is injured. The game clock reads 0:09. Team B are out of timeouts.
B94’s injury is the only reason for stopping the clock, therefore Team A has the option of a 10 second run-off (3-3-5-f) as Team B have no timeouts remaining, if Team A selects the runoff they cannot prevent the runoff, therefore the game is over. If Team A declines the runoff, there will be at least one additional play as the game clock will start on the snap (3-4-5-b). The play clock will be set to 40 seconds as the injured player is on the defensive team (3-2-4-c). |
MECHANICS: | |
New this week | Endzone will return when the BAFRA Exam Period is over. |
Last week | Game Situation: On 4th Down Team A line up to punt from the A-45 yard line. Returner B-89 lines up to return the punt at the B-9 yard line. On a crew of 5 where should the Back Judge stand? Answer: When the Punt returner is inside Team B’s 10-yard line the Back Judge should be in an initial position on the goal line in the middle of the field. M12.7.b.2 |
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. |
