Official (Canadian football)

An official in Canadian football is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game.

Canadian football officials generally use the following equipment:

For ease of recognition, officials are traditionally clad in a black-and-white vertically striped shirt, black pants with a white strip down the side, with a black belt, black shoes, and a peaked cap.

The referee is responsible for the general supervision of the game and has the final authority on all rulings. Thus, this position is sometimes referred to as head referee and is considered to be the crew chief. He can be easily identified by his differently coloured cap. In the Canadian Football League (CFL), the referee wears a black cap while the other officials wear white caps. In amateur football, including CIS football, the referee wears a white cap with black piping while the other officials wear black caps with white piping.

During each play from scrimmage, the referee positions himself behind the offensive team, favouring the right side (if the quarterback is a right-handed passer). He also counts offensive players.

On passing plays, he primarily focuses on the quarterback and defenders approaching him. The referee rules on possible roughing the passer and, if the quarterback loses the ball, determines whether it is a fumble or an incomplete pass.

On running plays, the referee observes the quarterback during and after he hands off the ball to the running back, remaining with him until the action has cleared just in case it is really a play action pass or some other trick passing play. Afterwards, the Referee then checks the running back and the contact behind him.

During punts and field goals, the referee observes the kicker (and holder) and any contact made by defenders approaching them.

In the CFL and other professional leagues, and in some CIS football games, the referee announces penalties and the numbers of the players committing them, and clarifies complex and/or unusual rulings over a wireless microphone to both fans and the media.

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