INCOMPETENT!!!!
Suffering an injury is not incompetence, it's bad luck. And how realistic is it to have an alternate official on standby for every game? As far as I know, no pro league in any sport does that in the regular season.in·com·pe·tent/in?kämp?t?nt/ Adjective: Not having the necessary skills to do something successfully.
And I guarantee the league down below has alternate refs.
All I know is that play makes the CFL what it is,a great game to watch.Besides the Argos lost.
I DO NOT believe that an infraction, not noticed and flagged by the on-field officials, can be called or applied after it's discovered by the replay official. Late in a game, or in overtime, when only the officials can call for a review, I expect that the same rules, related to what may and may not be "challenged" (by coaches) still apply.
I DO believe that the league's response to this issue was simply an attempt (and it seems to have succeeded) to downplay the obvious missed call by the officials, by pointing out that, if it had been called, it would have been declined anyway.
Re the instant replay regime, this snippet is relevant:
REVIEWABLE PLAY TYPES
g) Game Administration
"When reviewing a play, the Referee may change the ruling on any reviewable aspect of the play.
Penalties which are created as a direct change of the change in ruling may be applied even though a flag had not been thrown, and penalties that were called during the play may be cancelled as a direct result of the change in ruling."
PP. 72-73, CFL Rulebook
[url=http://cfl.ca/uploads/assets/CFL/PDF_Docs/CFLRules_2010_ENG.pdf]http://cfl.ca/uploads/assets/CFL/PDF_Do ... 10_ENG.pdf[/url]So penalty creation CAN occur.
Scoring plays in the endzone are reviewable. As illegal substitution and no-yards considerations were part of the review re their potential impact on any scoring on the play, they were on the table.
I don't believe the "no-brainer" reason by Higgins justifies them overstepping what the procedure should be.
Oski Wee Wee,
Russ
This rule MAY allow the Illegal Participation penalty to have been called, although it's a bit confusing.
[b]INSTANT REPLAY[/b] [b]REVIEWABLE PLAY TYPES[/b] [b](g) Game Administration[/b] Penalties which are created as a direct result of the change in ruling may be applied even though a flag had not been thrown, and penalties that were called during the play may be cancelled as a direct result of the change in ruling.
Thanks Oski / CFinO. I've never read the replay rules and am quite surprised, but pleased I guess, that the replay official has that power.
You're welcome, OC.
Understand though that the enforcement of fouls (i.e. whether a penalty should/should not be called) is NOT
reviewable under replay. Certainly in the field of play they are not going to have coaches say "there was a hold you missed, I challenge this, " etc. There has to be some other aspect that trumps that. Dead ball/end zone plays are always going to be essential viewing under this set-up.
The key point here re the Als-Argos incident is that it was the last play of the game and that a penalty could have been called which by rule extends the game by one play if enforced. Hence it falls under the "Game Administration" rubric of the rulebook by default. Penalties were "creatable."
All I know is there were millions of NFL Network viewers that were in "WTF?" mode, not just most CFL fans! LMAO 
Oski Wee Wee,
Russ
Oh? If you can supply proof, I'd be interested to see it. As it is, all I have found is this statement in a story written for Foxsports by Mike Pereira, the NFL's VP of Officiating from 2004 to 2009: "During the regular season, there are no alternate officials assigned to games. An injury means that the crew will be reduced to six."
Full link here: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/mike ... ie-referee