Horn

[77 Hornet]

Is it against the rules to blast a train horn at a high school football game while the ball is in play? I was thinking that once the ball is snapped you had to stop it. This is a horn that sits on the track and it's hooked up to car batteries.

 

[Hampton Roads 6]

If it's the horn I am thinking about, it's outside the stadium. I wondered about that, and I checked it out.

 

[77 Hornet]

This was next to the cheerleaders on the track. Is the one you're talking about still on school property?

 

[Hampton Roads 6]

The one I am talking about is outside the fence off school property. At least it appears to be off school property.

 

[White hat]

Nope. Not against the rules in h.s. football. (It is in NCAA). High school basketball has prohibitions on artificial noise makers, but football does not.

THE VHSL (not National Federation) prohibits the PA from being on during the play, but that's it.

I'm surprised a school's AD would let that happen, but it's something to be addressed by game management, not by the officials.

I've talked to a few coaches about things like this and the successful ones tend to agree with an opinion I heard about 10 years ago -- football at a high level is a loud game. Stadiums are best when they're loud. That comes from a coach whose team won a state title while the opponents' band played as loudly as possible while his team was on offense all game. They really got going when the signals were being called and ever during a live ball. No one cared. They played through it, never acknowledged it was even happening, and won the game.
This post was edited on 12/6 5:27 AM by White hat

 

[77 Hornet]

Wow, So when these nutball PA announcers do play by play on the PA, they are breaking the rules? I always thought it was stupid as they can give away a play (telling who has the ball etc.).

 

[White hat]

That's right. It needs to be stopped for the exact reason you cite but because that's a rule in the VHSL handbook and not the NFHS Rules Book, a lot of officials don't realize it's something they can stop.

Some 20+ years ago there was a situation where the PA was flagged. The visiting team's QB ran a decent play action fake and the PA guy shouts "IT'S A PASS!!!" While the VHSL handbook does not have the authority to prescribe a 15-yard penalty, the Rule Book allows a referee to enforce that for anything that offers an unfair advantage.

 

[spartan2005]

Same think happened to giles against Floyd some years back. No flag. I don't think the announcer realized his mike was live