Side Line Officials

The concept of getting football officials wider on the field has really paid dividends to better, safer officiating of on the gridiron the last 30 to 40 years. Listen in on the evolution of the wing officials pre snap position in this episode.

The head linesman and the line judge are the officials who have the best view of the line of scrmmage before each play. Before each snap they line up directly across from each other from the opposing sidelines with the ball in the middle. Their pre-snap duties include knowing the amount of substitutes coming off of their respective sideline, a count of how many players for one of the teams, down and distance, and false starts as well as keeping the neutral zone clear of everything but the centers hand(s) and head.

The wing officials were not always on the side lines, at one point prior to the decade of the 1990s that these officials were encouraged to be just outside the widest offensive players, often smack dab in the middle of the field.

The banner photo iscourtesy of Wikimedia Commons of an extra point try for the Pitt Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh in a football game at Pitt Stadium against Penn State on November 27, 1958. contributed by The Owl

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites mentioned above including the Football Zebras.