Officials: Please understand that mishandling of the ejection rule is happening all too often these days. One of the points of emphasis this season is enforcement of Penalties for Personal Fouls and Unsportsmanlike Conduct Fouls. They are NOT the same, and can NOT be put together for an ejection! We have had more (3) ejections for this non-ejectable offense this season than the other five seasons I have been with the GHSA. The coaches are saying the officials are just ejection happy, and although I am defending you, understand we can never give back to the player or coach the time they missed when they were unjustly ejected. We can undo suspending them for the next game, but that is all.
The other problem that seems to be repeating itself far too often is ejecting someone and not knowing who you ejected. In the last two weeks, we have had six (6) officials not know who they ejected. They gave the coach the wrong number, then later saw a football show and realized they ejected the wrong player. Even worse, a crew ejected a player and couldn't identify the player and came over and asked the coach what the player’s number was, and came back at half time and asked the players name. This is obviously NOT proper procedure!
Please be certain that there is reason to eject before you eject. Get together as a crew and talk about it and be able to defend it before you pull the trigger. And be CERTAIN you get the correct player. If six officials cannot identify the player, do not go ask the coach his number. I would not blame the coach for giving you the number of someone that wasn't even in the game. In this situation, it might be better to go tell the coach that his player could have been ejected for targeting, but you decided to go with illegal helmet contact instead and not eject.
I know we are better than this. Please help us help you.
Tommy Whittle
GHSA
