Possible CFL Rule Changes

The Canadian Football League Rules Committee will recommend to the Board of Governors that all scoring plays be subject to review by the replay official in the Command Centre. This would include all touchdowns, field goals, converts, singles and safety touches.

“Entering our seventh season using replay review and fourth season using the command centre, we feel it’s a logical step to introduce an automatic review of all scoring plays,” said Tom Higgins, CFL director of officiating.

“Scoring plays have a great impact on the outcome of a game and putting in additional measures to ensure those calls are correct is prudent,” said Higgins. “When considering these types of changes, we also must consider the flow of the game and the duration of any challenge. For the vast majority of scoring plays, we believe that the replay official will confirm the scoring plays before the next play without a delay.”

The Rules Committee also proposes to introduce two new rules to specifically address the issue of helmets coming off players during play;

•If a ball carrier’s helmet comes off, the play shall be blown dead immediately.

•If a non ball carrier’s helmet comes off, that player can no longer participate in the play. If he does, the player will be penalized 10 yards for illegal participation. If a player hits an opposing player who isn’t participating because he lost his helmet, he will be penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.

“Every year we task our rules committee to discuss ways to improve our already great game,” said CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon. “The safety of our players is paramount and we continue to challenge ourselves to find new ways within our rule book to make the game safer for our athletes.”

The CFL Rules Committee met yesterday and today as part of CFL Congress in Toronto. The Committee is made up of head coaches, general managers, team presidents, league officials and a representative of the CFL Players’ Association.

The proposed rule changes will be presented to the CFL Board of Governors prior to the start of the season. The Board of Governors is expected to vote on the proposed rule changes in the spring.