fwd: American Football Ass'n to develop rules

Fr*m: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
r.com>
Su*ject: AFA TO DEVELOP AN 'OFFICIAL' SEMI-PRO FOOTBALL RULE BOOK
Da*e: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 07:53:20 -0800
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

AFA PRESS RELEASE December 2, 2003
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AFA TO DEVELOP AN 'OFFICIAL' SEMI-PRO FOOTBALL RULE BOOK
Media - contact Dave Burch at AFA National Office=20
(877) 624-4485 or (941) 388-3510
(e-mail) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (or) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(website) http://amercianfootballassn.c.tep1.com/maabIlWaa2v9l=
b31xoae/

The American Football Association announced recently that it is
gathering information for a =91rule book=92 exclusively for use by
semi-pro football teams and leagues across the country.

While semi-pro football has been around longer than the National
Football League it has never been able to have all the teams on its
level agree to use one single set of playing rules. Most of the
teams in the 60 different semi-pro leagues that the AFA monitors,
and power rates, on a weekly bases during the long semi-pro football
season, play using a variation of NFL, college and high school
federation game rules.

=93We=92ve been in contact with several of our AFA Hall of Fame
officials and have asked them for their help in streamlining the
many different variations in playing rules that are used today by
semi-pro leagues from coast-to-coast=94, says the AFA President, Ron
Real.=20

While the leagues appear to do a good job explaining their rule
differences to their officiating crews during preseason clinics and
seminars, one of the biggest hang-ups seems to be that most semi-pro
football leagues want to say they play =93strictly out of the NFL Rule
Book=94 - when, in fact, there are so many detailed rules in the 137
page (18 chapters with some 732 rules and definitions) NFL book that
do not apply to the semi-pro league level - that, at times, makes
for some interesting conversations between coaches, players and
officials during the course of a game.

=93We=92ve put together a rule book committee made up of several of our
AFA Hall of Fame officials from different parts of the country in
hopes of comparing the different editions of playing rules used by
semi-pro footballers everywhere=94, added the AFA president. Several
members of the committee will meet in Sarasota, Florida during the
AFA=92s 23rd annual Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in December in hopes
of making some time saving evaluations between the different rules
now being used by semi-pro leagues nationwide.=09=09=20

Heading up the Rule Book Committee for the AFA will be Craig Ocoha
from Chicago. Ochoa will be inducted into the AFA=92s Hall of Fame
this year as a member of the =91Class of 2003=92 in the officials
category. Ocoha has been very involved as a referee-in-chief with
several different semi-pro leagues over the years. His experience
and familiarity with professional, college and high school rule
books and the differences between each, makes Ochoa the perfect man
to head up the new rules group for the AFA.

Also agreeing to serve on the rules committee from the Chicago and
mid-west area are HOF=92ers Paul Whiteside, Jack Pittges and L.T.
Bonner. Whiteside is the co-author of a book (with George Demetriou
and Jeffrey Stern) titled Football Rule Differences 2000 - which
defines the differences between college NCAA and the National High
School Federations rulebooks.=20

Representing the Western region for the AFA at the Sarasota, Florida
meeting will be Hall of Famer Jerry Grunska (Colorado). Grunska will
review the rule interpretations submitted by leagues from the West
coast, while Mike Cronin (Hudson Falls, New York) and James Bard
(Chambersburg, Penn.) will evaluate some of the rule differences
used by leagues on the East coast. John Walters of St. Petersburg,
Florida will represent the deep south.

Ocoha envisions great cooperation between the different leagues and
their league officiating supervisors in an effort to help the AFA
establish a common set of playing rules for the more than 600
semi-pro football teams across the country to follow.=20

=93Our AFA rule book committee members expect to work closely with the
National Football League office in obtaining permission to copy
those NFL rules that also apply to the semi-pro level of the game -
as well as any new rule changes the pros may make to their game
before the start of the coming season=94, commented Ocoha. If all goes
well during our committee meetings in Sarasota this December we
could have the first edition of the AFA=92s new Semi-Pro Football Rule
Book printed in time for next seasons games.=94=20

Semi-Pro football league officials organizations wanting to
participate in the development of the AFA=92s new rule book may do so
by submitting a copy of the rule differences (from the NFL=92s rule
book) that they use as =91playing rules=92 to the AFA National office.=20

Send copies of your current playing rules to:
- AFA Rule Book Committee, P.O. Box 2400, Sarasota. FL 34230
- Or in a PDF File to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Just click AFA Press Release December 02, 2003 for Multimedia
Version
http://amercianfootballassn.c.tep1.com/maabIlWaa2v90=
b31xoae/


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