Tom Higgins
CFL.ca
The Toronto Argonauts were penalized for delay of game during Friday night’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Several fans have asked why a delay of game penalty was assessed against the Argonauts. Let me explain why:
In the fourth quarter of the game, Argonauts head coach Jim Barker attempted to challenge the spot of the ball following a second-down completion by his team. Once a challenge flag is thrown by a coach, the referee will ask the coach what is being challenged.
If the play is reviewable the referee will announce what is being challenged. However, if the play is not reviewable the referee will assess a delay of game penalty against the team that has erroneously thrown the challenge flag.
In Friday night’s game, the play in question was not reviewable because a team may only challenge the spot of the ball on third down. In this case, the Argonauts were challenging the spot of the ball on second down.
Like any other of our rules, our replay rules place the onus on the head coach and the team to know which plays can and cannot be challenged. This rule is also in effect to prevent teams from throwing challenge flags as a way to draw the referee over to the bench area or delay the game for some other reason.
A final point on challenges: Each team will be entitled to two challenges per game. If they are successful with both challenges and they still have at least one timeout remaining, they will be granted a third and final challenge. The teams are not permitted to use any challenges once the three-minute warning has occurred in the fourth quarter, regardless of how many challenges or time-outs they have remaining.
