Tom Higgins
CFL.ca
Over the past seven weeks we have had some amazing plays close to the goal line involving the pylon. In the CFL Officiating Mechanics Manual we have a few diagrams to help our on-field officials make the correct ruling on the field.
This ruling applies when the ball carrier attempts to score a touchdown by leaving his feet and diving into the end zone. The rule book states that three conditions must be met to score a touchdown.
1. The ball must be in the possession of a player and
2. When it breaks the plane of the goal line or goal line extended and
3. Either the ball or the player must be in the goal area
The following two diagrams explain what constitutes a touchdown and what doesn’t constitute a touchdown in a simple scoring situation:
Touchdown:
Not a Touchdown:
A couple of weeks ago a similar play was challenged by Coach Hufnagel of the Stampeders when Jeremaine Copeland appeared to have scored against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Notwithstanding the fact that Copeland’s foot touched the sideline, this illustrates a good example of the pylon being part of the endzone.
The Command Centre would have overturned the ruling on the field and awarded a touchdown if conclusive evidence was shown that the ball carrier’s foot was not out of bounds before he dove for the Goal Line. This is illustrated below:
Another variation of a play with the pylon would be when the ball carrier dives from the field of play with only the ball going in to the goal area. Both the ball and the player come down out-of-bounds in goal. What would the ruling be?
The ruling would be a touchdown because the ball would be in possession in goal.
A final scenario that could take place would involve the ball carrier diving from the field of play with only the player going in to the goal area. Both the ball and the player come down out-of-bounds. The intuition would to rule the player out of bounds, but in the CFL the goal line extends to infinity from the pylon.
The player was in goal in possession when the ball broke the plane of the goal line extended.
For more information on the CFL rules you can read the entire CFL Rule Book online.
