FEAR AND LOATHING IN NOVAFFL: By Dr. Anne

WASHINGTON, DC-- The first weekend of official league play in the Northern Virginia Flag Football League (NovaFFL) took place on Saturday, January 6, 2007. This was a weekend all players new and old have been anticipating for months, and despite a few glitches and injuries, had a successful opening weekend.

However, as the day progressed, the talk among teams and players was the newly created Arbitrator, and his role in games. According to official NovaFFL rules, the Arbitrator will "provide assistance in resolving any dispute…" between teams. The Arbitrator also ensures the game stays on time, monitors the downs, and the score. No where in the official refereeing rules does it say the Arbitrator will be in charge of ball placement. Despite this "official" job of the Arbitrator, almost all teams marked the ball on the Arbitrator, and as the day went on, many Arbitrators' actively spotted the ball on their mark.

While most all NovaFFL participants had no problem with this "new" rule, some still felt strict interpretation of the Arbitrator's role should be enforced., and "activist" Arbitrators should not be allowed to moderate games.

"Look here, look here… the Arbitrator is just there to make sure we don't rip each other to shreds on calls and such. He's not there to be the ball judge," said one NovaFFL player, who asked not to be named.

Felipe of the Cutters stated on the NovaFFL forum, "Some refs take more of an active role in 'calling' the game, while others just are there to mediate. Most players think it's an actual reffing (sic) role."

Still, others felt this loose interpretation of the Arbitrator role helped all teams equally, and kept teams from arguing over ball placement.

"It made it much easier to point to the Arbitrator and say, 'This is where the flag was pulled, not where B Hidd threw it after he pulled it.' It was disappointing to still have some players arguing with ball placement with the Arbitrator," remarked a NovaFFL participant, who wished to remain anonymous.

During a game where the Cutters played Conquest, Conquest players yelled at Arbitrator San Fran, on where he should be standing, whether on the sidelines, behind the quarterback, or in the secondary. It seemed if Conquest did not like the call, they told San Fran that he "couldn't see anything going on from the sideline" and "you need to be on the field." San Fran honored their request, but was then chastised for supposedly missing a ball placement only moments later. Even with the disagreement of San Fran's calls during this game, Conquest won the game handily 5-3.

This topic has brought a same-day post over the weekend, and has generated four pages of discussion and response. At press time, the topic had been viewed 485 times.

While many players had different ideas about what to do with the Arbitrator, it seems Commissioner Jason Gentili stated in a release today that this subject would be brought up in the next staff/captain meeting, and promised that the staff and captains " will get together and see what we can improve on and further define the roles of the people assigned to moderate the games."