Football rules change (not much here)

[White hat]

The complete list of rules changes for football has yet to be released, but the three that the NFHS put out as the big ones are minimal.

The biggest one is elimination of clipping in the free blocking zone. The NFHS is patting itself on the back for making this big change for safety reasons. No longer will clipping be allowed. It's now illegal everywhere, at all times.

Thing is, I haven't seen anyone clip an opponent in the free blocking zone... maybe ever. Clipping is specifically a block from behind and below the waist. There are plenty of low blocks and a few blocks in the back in the free blocking zone, but the combination as a clip doesn't happen much at all. I've seen two actual clips in the last 15 years.

If they really wanted to make a change for safety, all low blocks would be eliminated. Just my personal opinion.

In a move no one will notice, a change from a few years ago was reversed and mouth pieces can now be completely clear or completely white once again.

Here's the release with its self-congratulatory phantom quotes.

http://www.nfhs.org/articles/elimin...es-risk-minimization-in-high-school-football/

 

[DinwiddieProud]

What was the rational for previously prohibiting clear or white mouth guards?

 

[White hat]

I think somebody decided they were hard to see if they were clear or the color of teeth.

They aren't hard to see. Clear ones are not transparent and no one's teeth are so uniformly white that anyone would be confused by a white one, but that was a thing for a few years.