Officiating boss backs instant replay

[url=http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/sports/story.html?id=a9ac0bf8-5c49-49d7-acfd-0a0c65e085f6]http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 0c65e085f6[/url]

Some wrinkles need to be ironed out and questions need to be answered, but instant replay will "absolutely" be implemented in time for the 2006 Canadian Football League season, says the league's director of officiating.

George Black discussed the proposed system with coaches and general managers Thursday morning here on the final day of the CFL's annual congress. He is confident the rough draft of rules and regulations will be refined and accepted by the CFL board of governors this spring.

"We need to make sure that we've got everything done -- nailed down -- and that we can do a really good job on it," he said. "And I'm optimistic that we can."

Instant replay made its CFL debut during an exhibition game last spring in Halifax, and it will be worked out in the pre-season again this year. It will borrow from systems already in place in U.S. college football and the National Football League, albeit with some Canadian twists.

Under existing rules, teams in the CFL are allowed only one timeout per half, but there has been talk of adding another that could be used in either the first or second half of a game. Officials will also have fewer camera angles than their NFL brethren but, like those in the U.S., they will only be able to overturn contentious calls if there is irrefutable visual evidence.

"We're not going to do some fly-by-night, nickel-and-dime operation that's not going to be effective," Black said. "If it's not going to be effective, I'd rather not do it."

The NFL reportedly pours millions into the coach's-challenge replay system it adopted seven years ago, and its officials had the benefit of three dozen cameras at Super Bowl XL last month in Detroit.

The CFL has budgeted to spend between $1,500 and $2,000 each game on replay, and will have between five and 12 cameras trained on the field during the regular season.

they are doing it with a timer, right?

they should do what they did in Halifax, that was great.

i like the idea of an official who calls the onfield refs about a bad call....like a supervising official with replay to double check close calls.

Just no repeats of:

(1) Pittsburgh Vs Indy

or

(2) Seattle Vs Pittsburgh

:roll:

sounds good, but add that with:

  1. at least a 90 sec timer
  2. one TO and 2 independence challenrges (I hate the idea of adding any more TOs)

It will be great for officials to get a second look at vital plays in the game. And you have to remember without instant replay those plays the NFL got wrong would still be wrong but at least they had a second chance to get those plays correct.

Why not have a retired official in the booth, and call down ONLY when something is close and needs to be reviewd?

thats what i said...except for the 'retired' official part.

god, I'm gonna hate it if they add more TOs.

But without the onfield challenges....Sometimes a coach will challenge a ludicrous play to slow the momentum down. I'd like to see the game proceed as normal with the challenges comming from upstairs from the supervisor.

Instead of adding timeouts what do you think of a 10 yard penalty imposed for defeated challenges?

yes...exactly...i dont like the coaches being able to call for challenges...maybe only 1 per game...the rest should be official's call.

Hmmmm interesting....Could take a team out of field goal range if they are wrong...

Geez roughy pretty good food for thought.

maybe 5 yards, not 10.

like the idea of refs calling a reply instead of the couch. but if couch do it, I still say 1 TO and 2 independence challenges.

Excellent! Penalty idea interesting for sure, I don't know. At least it looks like it will be implemented, which is a good thing.

More penalties?? Come on. I thought we wanted to get less official interference, not more!

Adding an extra time out per team per game is not going to slow things down much at all. We already have fifty breaks in the action for commercials.

If you don't let the coach challenge, then you might as well not have instant replay at all. Whiners who complain that they lost because of a bad call will complain that they lost because the officials didn't review a particular play. Let the coach challenge it, and they won't have that complaint.

The team should lose a time out, but only if there is irrefutable evidence that the call was the correct one. If the call stands because there is not enough evidence to overturn it, the team should retain its time out.

The network should use the 90-second break in the action as a commercial break. This should result in fewer stoppages in play for no other reason than to sell beer. As I said once before, we might as well watch commercials as stare at Jake Ireland's butt for a minute and a half.

think about the peanaly for a defened call, it can be like a delay of game call. Don't know how it will fly though, can't say I'm in favor of it, but a good idea to think about no the less.

sigh!
Kanga
If you have independent challenges do you think the game will go on while the ref look at the film it will be a time out not matter what!

Can the coach sit on the couch when he makes the challenge?

well still, if the league goes to three TO, coachs are gonna use them to slow doen the game like they do in the NFL.

with one TO and 2 Challenges separate, couches can't do that.

How about the coach? Can he do it?
If they want to slow down the game they will fake an injury.
Whats them matter Kanga? The CFL is making a change and you dont like it?