How to Signal Illegal Fair Catch in Football

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Brian Currier and I'm here on behalf of Expert Village. I'm here to talk about football penalties and the hand signals the officials use to indicate the penalties. A number of the penalties have different rules associated with them depending upon the level of football you're talking about, whether it's High School, College, or the NFL. As much as possible, we'll indicate where those differences are. When returning a punt or kickoff, the player has the option of making a fair catch. The legal signal for making a fair catch is the arm extended in the air and the waving of the hands twice. A player who does not make this signal can be penalized for illegal fair catch. Any signal by the receiver that involves anything other than a fully extended arm or the waving of the hand twice, such as (video demo of just waving the hand), is illegal. The signal for illegal fair catch is (video demo, hand raised at the elbow)."