Penalty flags fly at record pace
Officials have been told to stay the course despite criticism from fans and media
It’s official and it’s right there in black and white.
The men in stripes have been busy so far in the 2014 CFL regular season, throwing flags at a dizzying pace — and they’re not going to stop just because fans and media members are beefing about the number of penalties being called.
“Our job is to protect the integrity of the game and we’re going to continue to do that,” says Glen Johnson, the CFL’s vice-president of officiating.
“The memo I just sent out to the guys said, ‘Guys, hold steady. Hold to your standards. Don’t be influenced by what you’re hearing or reading or what people are saying.’
“People say, ‘We have to get the number of penalties down, so don’t call as many.’ We are definitely not going to do that.”
Through four weeks of the 2014 regular season (a total of 16 games), the league’s nine teams had combined for 388 penalties for 3,367 yards. That’s an average of 24.3 penalties and 210.4 yards per game.
Over the same span in 2013, the eight teams had been penalized 296 times for 2,661 yards for averages of 18.5 penalties and 166.3 yards per game.
The Toronto Argonauts have posted the largest increase year over year, going from 37 penalties for 272 yards in four games in 2013 to 59 penalties for 532 yards in four contests this season.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats took 43 penalties for 352 yards over the first four weeks in 2013. The Tiger-Cats’ numbers through Week 4 in 2014 were 41 infractions for 335 yards — but the team incurred those numbers in only three games.
Only the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have posted a decrease from year to year, going from 45 penalties for 407 yards in four games in 2013 to 42 infractions for 396 yards in the same span this year.
“We’re working hard with the teams to make sure that the number goes down,” Johnson says. “The coaches and teams are working hard to understand what the standards are and how we’re calling things and how they can reduce those penalties.
“Everybody — me included — thinks we need to end up collectively with fewer penalties called. But our officials are going to call what’s presented to them.”
The CFL tweaked some rules in the off-season, but the changes weren’t fundamental.
There’s still a five-yard halo for a punt returner, and yet the number of no-yards penalties is on pace to rise by 40 per cent this season. It’s still illegal to grab a face mask, but yet that penalty is on pace to be called more often in 2014 as a year earlier.
Roughing-the-passer penalties are predicted to rise by more than double this season after some alterations to rules pertaining to player safety.
Another rule change that is resulting in increased nylon on the turf is taunting — it’s projected to rise by nearly 80 per cent over last season — but Johnson thinks the number of such calls will drop now that players know the rule.
“We added this year the standard that we don’t want players faking throwing a flag or simulating throwing a flag after a play if they think we’ve missed something,” Johnson says. “We’ve had a number of those early.
“Guys are instinctively still doing it, but it’s getting better. You see the behaviour changing. You see guys kind of go, ‘Ohhh!’ and then they stop.”
Johnson went on a cross-country tour in the pre-season, discussing with coaches (and the media) the standards that the officials would be following during the campaign.
The message apparently hasn’t made it through to the players, who continue to take penalties at record paces.
“Everyone’s working really hard at figuring it out,” Johnson says. “It’s a collective problem. We’ve just got to keep working together to get them down, keep the flow of the game going and make people want to keep watching.”