STAYING UNDER CONTROL…KEEPING THE GAME IN PERSPECTIVE

Feature Editorial by: Jared Neumeier

RMFL – Ever been in a game when it just seemed like EVERYTHING was going against you?

The ball never bounced right.

Sure-handed receivers dropped balls they never drop.

Linemen forgetting snap counts.

Guys forgetting plays or botching defensive assignments.

Or… the Officials were just seemed one-sidedly against you???

After being out of the game for a number of years, I still remember there were so many games, especially road games where I sure felt convinced that the officials weren’t calling it fair.

Since that time, I have come to gain the perspective and face the reality that I WAS WRONG. I was simply CAUGHT UP IN THE EMOTIONS OF THE GAME.

These are realities all players must face… and deal with. Officials are not going to always make the right call; they will NOT see everything. None of our best officials can… none of the NFL’s best do.. However…, a lot more times than that, YOUR PERSPECTIVE will be ultimately flawed by your emotions…and, all things considered, you as a player or coach are a lot more likely wrong than the officials could ever be. Further, of the two of you, YOU are the only one with an emotional stake in the outcome of the game. All they have to care about trying the best they can to call it as fair as possible… that is all they have to care about.

The bottom line: There are A LOT of things that can… and will go wrong in a football game. Officiating is just one of them.

But we ALL need to understand two things about our perspective on officiating:

First: Our officials are constantly doing a far better job than we ever give them credit for.

Second: With so many other things that your team needs to concentrate on, officiating will never need to be one of them.

I have mentioned this before, but I’ll briefly say it again. In so many games that I have watched as commissioner, I have had the luxury of spending ½ many games on each of the opposing sidelines and BOTH teams are generally griping about calls. Of course this is to be expected, but I will tell you this, I am amazed at how truly ONE-SIDED each sideline watches these games. I have seen so many plays as an unbiased observer that I will see the game official call correctly… a call that was as clear as could be… and then proceeded to watch that sideline go bananas because they think the call was wrong.

So what is this all about? Why am I even bothering writing about this issue?

Listen closely.

In 2006, an RMFL player clearly made intentional contact with an official during a play. This was a player that, like his fellow players and coaches, was convinced that the “officials were killing them” and, quite obviously, decided to take out his frustrations accordingly.

Does the expression, “the officials are killing us”, sound familiar?

For the RMFL’s part, that player is now going to be sitting out a one year suspension and another year probation. Many officials were looking for a harsher penalty from the league, while his team thought that a player with no past history of problems deserved a less severe penalty.

Regardless, and this is the point that EVERY PLAYER needs to hear… WHAT THE RMFL WILL DO IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCE IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT MAY HAPPEN BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THE GAME.

As a minimum, while the player is either suspended from the RMFL for a very long time or expelled forever, he can work extra hours or take on another job for a while to pay the damages law suit that he will undoubtedly lose… as a maximum, he can apply his prison money earned making license plates towards the civil penalties he would likely face.

GENTLEMAN, any attempt to strike, contact or harm an official in ANY WAY… before, after or most definitely during a game could RUIN YOUR LIFE. You may be convicted of a FELONY.

The player in question, was extremely lucky. He was lucky, first of all, that the official in question is not a vindictive sort… but mostly he is lucky that the official in question did not sustain a serious injury from the collision.

There is not a player in the league that should even hesitate to think they may be so lucky. In fact, I can assure you they will NOT be. I will testify myself against them… that this RMFL has given fair warning and, in fact, this very article will be re-printed next March.

With cameras rolling at all times at all games, seeing this incident or any incident is an easy affair for this commissioner… or a court of justice.

Game officials are afforded many of the same protections as police officers… and very similar harsher penalties for those that would chose to harm them.

If you know that you are the type of personality that cannot “roll with setbacks”, that has a quick temper you are unable to control. or you think football is something other than a fun game that is fun to play, NOW is the time to seriously re-think your participation for the 2007 season… or ever.

The RMFL officially has had a “no tolerance” policy for seeming to intentionally injure a fellow player or engage in flagrant and/or unnecessary contact with a fellow player. That means there is no “warning” hit you get away with. You are caught, you are gone. And you WILL be caught. It may be a bit subjective on my part, but you can be assured that I would rather err on protecting the health of the rest of the players in the RMFL over the rights of the one guy who may have taken what he feels is a “border-line” hit.

A couple of higher profile players had to sit a game in 2006 for just such an occurrence. Now another star level player is sitting a season.

This Rocky Mountain Football League is sending the “gentle reminder” to its players, 99% or better who do have the correct perspective on the sport, that the league will review all complaints and have a quick trigger on penalizing any player that has put his emotions or some other issue over the integrity of the game and the safety of all the participants herein.

If our game officials start getting ANY idea that officiating RMFL football games is not a safe activity, they will cease to perform. And for those readers with a slightly slower induction mechanism, we can make this very simple. NO OFFICIALS, NO FOOTBALL. The overall reality that our players absolutely have to understand is that: yes, they do get paid and I know they do like and appreciate the added income, HOWEVER, there is nary one of them that will agree to officiate our games no matter the risk or no matter the abuse. Players need officials more than officials need players. We need to square with that even before launching even a verbal tirade from the sidelines.

Keep it fun for them… and I guarantee they will keep it a lot more fun for us.

In 10 seasons of the RMFL, this is the first of such incidences of a player doing something like this during the game.

It had better be the last.

A shattered life awaits any player who does not understand that.