Article content

A green flag?

To anyone watching Saturday’s CFL game between the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes (a 36-19 win for the visitors) at TD Place, it seemed quite bizarre that an obvious fumble by Alouettes running back William Stanback at his team’s 46-yard line early in the fourth quarter couldn’t be challenged.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Green flag confusion adds to Redblacks' frustration in loss to Alouettes Back to video

But nope. Turns out Redblacks coach Rick Campbell took too long to challenge the play, which had not been ruled a fumble on the field. Once the green flag (which is raised for a TV timeout) comes down, there’s no Coach’s Challenge permitted. And while the explanations may still seem confusing, here’s why there was no look from the CFL Command Centre and why the Redblacks didn’t get to challenge the play.

According to a tweet from CFL Football Operations, “Teams may only challenge the play immediately prior to a TV Timeout, during the first 30 seconds of said TV timeout. The Redblacksattempted to challenge the ruling on the field after the 30-second window had expired.The 30-second window is communicated to coaches through a green flag that is held in the air at mid-field between both benches by a member of the CFL Timing Crew. The protocol has been in use since the beginning of the 2017 season. If you’re in stadium, you’ll see thegreenflagduring every TV timeout.”