Are "late hits" super bad?

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I know very little about football, so if you wouldn't mind explaining how bad is it to do a late hit? This comes from the interview I saw with the mom and kid from that football fiasco. (the one where the coach tackled the kid for the late hit). I 100% agree that the coach was way out of line for tackling the kid. I was surprised when they asked the kid if he had any idea why the coach was angry. The kid said he had no idea, and the mom said that her son had not done anything wrong. Essentially saying a flag was thrown and it was up to the referees to deal with. Which I agree with. However seems to me that a late hit is out of line. And that it is indeed something that the kid did that was wrong.

Again... I am not supporting the coach at all... just curious about the seriousness and "wrongness" of a late hit.

Ohh, and if a flag was thrown, what is the usual penalty for a late hit?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

A late hit is just part of football. They happen. Some late hits are worse than others. Some are truly accidents and some are on purpose.

 

[Bob Slydell]

No, it's not "super bad". In most cases, it's just a matter of players continuing to play past the point that the play is over and getting overexuberant. Every now and then, you get a malicious hit where one player is intentionally hitting someone late with the intention of hurting them. That, obviously, is much worse than your typical late hit.

The normal penalty for a late hit is 15 yards. If it's deemed a malicious hit, the player can be ejected. I don't know the rules with peewee football, but I would imagine each league has different rules regarding things like this.

 

[meloneyb21]

Yea, it's just a part of the game. They get penalized and that's it. Sometimes one player may have been running towards another player to tackle but didn't get a chance to catch himself and still hit him late. I don't think it's a big deal.

 

[momof2inPA]

Some late hits are worse than others. The one on the video was pretty darn late and pretty darn bad. Plus, there was a size discrepancy between the players. If that were my son, I would have been mad, too, but I wouldn't have run on the field.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

Thanks for your answers. Now, this proably will end up in a debate, but what should happen to the coach that did the tackling? Should he get jail time? That is what the mom of the son that got tackled wants.

 

[pozey]

Some late hits are worse than others. The one on the video was pretty darn late and pretty darn bad. Plus, there was a size discrepancy between the players. If that were my son, I would have been mad, too, but I wouldn't have run on the field.

This is an excellent reply.

I watched the video. The late hit the kid put on the other player was pretty much a cheap shot. The incident was WAY away from the ball. He was absolutely wrong. However, it does happen in football.

The referee made a correct call to penalize the player.

And the parent/coach who ran onto the field should be punished severely. You simply cannot act like that.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Thanks for your answers. Now, this proably will end up in a debate, but what should happen to the coach that did the tackling? Should he get jail time? That is what the mom of the son that got tackled wants.

Yes, he should be prosecuted for assault.

 

[komondorok]

Many late hits, if not most are truely accidents. Such as when kids are running for a tackle and can't stop their momentum exactly when the whistle blows.

However, the late hits become a serious problem when coaches are so mesmerized by winning that they encourage/teach their kids to continue to hit even after the whistle. The "it's only illegal if you get caught" strategy. The danger with this coaching strategy is that since everybody else has relaxed at the whistle, they are not prepared for the hit. That is how injuries happen.

We had a 9 year old take a "cheap shop" this past weekend. So cheap that it snapped both bones in his arm. The apalling thing was that the opposing coach stood there and laughed, pointed and called our injured player a woos. He then continued to encourage his kids to "make them cry." 9 year olds!

I think there were many parents on our team who were ready to storm the field and take out the coach. But I don't think any of them thought about taking out the kids doing the deliberate late hits. They were only doing what they were told to do; hit, and continue hitting (including spearing, face masking, etc), and never mind the whistle.

So, a late hit is only really bad when it is deliberate and when it is meant to seriously hurt.

If the late hit was an accident, as most are, it is just part of the game.

 

[Firedog]

I had to explain this to my son this past Saturday. He's 6 y.o., 40# soaking wet, and excited about his first year of football. If he's in the general vicinity at the end of the tackle, he's started a habit of falling on the pile.

Not that he's going to hurt anybody, but it's best to get him out of the habit now (plus I'm constantly getting on other, more experienced kids who have been doing it at practices and games).

By the way, where is this video of the late hit?

 

[CarolG]

By the way, where is this video of the late hit?

There's a link in the first post in this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1217176

 

[Hercules10]

A late hit is part of the game especially in youth football. We're not talking NFL here. When I played in middle-school and high-school (scored 4 touchdowns in one game!!! ) there were lots and lots of late hits.

Coaches always taught us to "charge" the ball player. And "Don't 'chu ever slow-up until he's good and down!"

This usually resulted in a defender working up too much momentum and not enough experiance to stop when they needed to.

That coach need to be horse-whipped. Pure stupiditity on his part!

 

[Galahad]

Didn't see the late hit in the video. Looked like the team of the kid he hit was on offense.

 

[trip]

This is an excellent reply.

I watched the video. The late hit the kid put on the other player was pretty much a cheap shot. The incident was WAY away from the ball. He was absolutely wrong. However, it does happen in football.

The referee made a correct call to penalize the player.

And the parent/coach who ran onto the field should be punished severely. You simply cannot act like that.

I too viewed the video and felt the late hit fell into the "cheap shot" area. It happened way after the play with about a minute left in the game. What we don't know is if this had happened throughout the whole game.

I don't agree with what the father/coach did and am sure he wished he had controlled himself better. He should be punished but I'm not sure to what extent.

 

[cardaway]

IMO the difference is between a true late hit, that has to be penalized just to try and make sure people try and keep them from happening, and the cheap shots like the one all over the news lately. I think the only way to make these stop is to come up with a harsher "flagrant foul" like penalty, but in football, that is really hard to do.

I'm also not sure if the number of them is getting worse. Could be just another one of those things where it only seems to be getting worse given the internet era. I sure took my share of late hits, both honest and flagrant.