Officials see replay as their friend
WINNIPEG For four days before every season, CFL officials from across Canada gather in one location for their own training camp.
They go through a battery of fitness tests, a rules exam, a video mechanics exam and spend time going over certain types of penalties and the calls that apply to them.
It’s no different than what the nine CFL teams do with their players and it’s a good indication the league considers officials to be just as vital to the game as the athletes themselves.
“This is the weekend we make sure the officials are on that same page,” CFL senior vice-president of football operations Glen Johnson said from Guelph, Ont.
“It’s our way of ensuring that everybody hears the same message, that the guys are investing the right amount of time in preparation. It’s not like they show up for this fourday camp and it’s the first time they’ve done anything. They’ve been working hard for three months now, getting into shape, studying rules, studying video. More than anything this is their final test to make the grade to get on the field this year.”
Officials have to deal with perpetual changes to an evolving game. For instance, 11 years ago the league first used video review and over the last three years it’s been expanded to include eight challengeable penalty calls. Johnson was still working as a head referee when video review was first introduced and he said it took a while for officials to embrace the technology.
“It has evolved over time,” Johnson said. “When it first came in I think we all felt negatively about it. We thought it was taking away from our ability to do our job and it was a bit of Big Brother that wasn’t good for the game.
“That was 11 years ago now and if you asked someone today it would be a very different perspective. They are very supportive of it, very happy about it … we make mistakes and I guarantee you we’re the first person that knows. Having the opportunity to have that play reviewed, have it corrected, it helps us deal with it better.”
Head referee Dave Foxcroft, who has worked in the CFL for 17 years, said officials have been well-educated about video reviews and now see replay as their friend.
“We all want to make that call at the end of the game but none of us want to get it wrong,” he said. “It’s about getting the call correct. If we can fine-tune our replays so that it works that we can seamlessly get the call correct, I think that’s what we’re working toward. That will make it better for the fans, for the game and for everybody.”
It’s also a learning tool for the officials themselves.
“The first time you get a call overturned on you, you don’t feel too good,” Foxcroft said. “But then you learn that we got it right and you learn from why you got it wrong. It has allowed us to look at our incorrect calls and see why we got them wrong and then make the corrections to get them right the next time.”