Archival Repost from Referee Magazine - 2004

You’re keying the wide receiver going down the sideline. You see the defensive back grab the receiver’s jersey. Your hand instinctively reaches for “yellow.” How hard was that?

In truth, to effectively determine when a contact foul has occurred it takes a more rigorous programmed thought process. While this process can be applied equally well for all contact fouls, administrative fouls such as pre-snap infractions (false start, illegal motion, illegal shift, etc.) and equipment violations are a different animal. In general, such fouls must be rigorously enforced without regard to impact on the play or the “degree” of violation. Newer officials often have a difficult time distinguishing between the two, and as a result tend to be overly “technical” in dropping a flag for fairly insignificant contact fouls. I hope this article might assist them in developing a better feel for how to properly assess contact fouls.