Knowledge of the rules

nowing the rules is one assumption we make about any position in an officiating crew, but that a trait we still cannot take for granted. It is impossible to “enforce the rules” if you don’t know what they are. Before every season, the referee should review all the rules, but he should concentrate most heavily on Rule 10. His major on-the-field tasks are to complete penalty enforcement promptly and correctly and to communicate his decisions to spectators with accurate, approved signals. One of the quickest ways to “mess up” an otherwise smooth-flowing contest is to find a flag on the ground — and not know what to do about it.

Recently, I witnessed a game where an official called "taunting" against the scoring team on a touchdown. Instead of properly handling the penalty on the try, the crew enforced the penalty on the succeeding kick-off. Taking advantage of that unwarranted 15 yards of field positionm, the "injured" team quickly scored to retake the lead and eventually win the football game.

Continued...