AFL Makes Minor Rule Changes

Today the AFL announced a couple of rule changes that will affect play in 2012. First the AFL announced that the league will move from a five-man officiating crew to 6 officials effective in 2012. The league has had a five-man officiating crew in place since their inaugural season in 1987, but this move was made in order to bring more credibility and accuracy to the game. The AFL added a second back judge in order to keep interference from the players and the fans to a minimum. Now the league will utilize one referee, an umpire, a line judge, a side judge and two back judges in every game; to compare the NFL uses a seven-man officiating crew for their games.

The move will add another eye on the field that's ready to look for any infraction worthy of throwing that yellow flag. Teams last season averaged a total of 157.77 penalties in 18 regular season games, good for 8.77 penalties a game. The Soul ranked 7th last season in fewest penalty yards per game with 909 penalty yards for a 50.5 per game average. The Soul were penalized 153 times for a 8.5 average, both of which came under the league average. The Soul were one of the best disciplined teams in the AFL in 2011 and look to improve on that figure despite the added back judge. The least penalized team was the Tulsa Talons (102 time for a 32.8 penalty yards per game average) and the Tampa Bay Storm were the most penalized team (184 times for a 70.8 penalty yards per game average).

The league also changed the replay and challenge rules by allowing coaches challenges and replays to be available for every regular and postseason contest in 2012. Each team has two challenges each per game and if both challenges are successful then a third challenge will be awarded to that team. A team must have at least one timeout remaining in order to challenge a play. These changes replicates what is done in the NFL for their replay management except for the "two minute warning rule" where all plays must be reviewed by the replay both within that time. The AFL uses a "one minute warning" and doesn't add any special replay rules during that time. The NFL also reviews every scoring play which the AFL does not currently do at this time.

Both of these changes will bring a tighter, more competitive atmosphere to the game of arena football which I feel is needed in the league. Anytime you can bring credibility without sacrificing the pace of the game is a victory for a league like the AFL.