It’s been more than six weeks since the Grey Cup was played and looking back on it, that the 2014 season was the least entertaining CFL season in living memory. Not only were scoring and attendance down, but injuries were up, as well as penalties.
Oh, the penalties…
Were all looked for that yellow indicator on the bottom of the screen after every single play. Officials were in fine form, littering the field with penalty flags at a record pace.
Who’s to blame?
Let’s start with the officials themselves. Before the 2014 season, the CFL changed their head of officiating, naming 24-year veteran Glen Johnson as the new officiating sheriff. Maybe that change led officials to be more “by the book” with their decisions, therefore when in doubt, they threw their flags. Most workers do the same thing, show an increased dedication to their jobs if a new boss takes over.
A second possibility is that coaching and player decisions were just plain bad this past year. With a constant evolution on how roughing the passer and illegal headshots are called, maybe there just isn’t enough time and energy spent in practice on how to deal with the rules.
The third and most likely scenario is that blame should be shared amongst players, coaches, and officials. The bottom line is that it got to the point where officiating was a major storyline in way too many games. Officials eating up airtime on national TV is never a good thing.
As someone who topped out as a mediocre high school quarterback and now spends Friday nights eating Doritos and watching football, of course I am more than qualified to tell officials how to do their job… so here it goes.
I equate a good referee to a good traffic cop. Common sense must always rise over and above any letter of the law. Cops don’t give speeding tickets for driving 5 km/h over the speed limit, and in the same way, officials shouldn’t throw flags on the special teamer who throws a marginal block in the back 40 yards away from the play. Yes, technically both are illegal, but being able to think about the situation at hand and understand its insignificance should come to the forefront.
A good referee understands that his main job is not to look for penalties but to control flow of the game and ensure the safety of all those involved. If something clearly illegal happens and it affects the play, then of course throw the penalty flag, but otherwise keep it in your pocket.
Cops understand that pulling over every speeder on a busy highway will just lead to delays and create unnecessary frustration. They look for the true lawbreakers who are clearly over the line and are putting others at harm. Traffic flow continues and only the idiots are punished.
In 2014 CFL officials were throwing flags for going 105 in a 100 zone.
It’s no fun being negative, but putting a positive spin on it seems like putting lipstick on a pig. The 2014 season sucked. As fans, all we can do is take the forks out of our eyeballs, glue the hair back on our heads, and hope for better things in 2015.
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