In most college/pro football games that I’ve seen, upon a penalty call, the ref signals the penalty. He then consults with his other officials, and after a few seconds, turns on his mic and signals the penalty while saying it out loud.
Why two signals? Why not wait til you know what the call is before doing it once for the crowd? What is the ref doing in the few seconds between the first and second signals?
Until someone comes along who can answer definitively…
I thought he was signaling the penalty to the bench to allow for the team to either accept or decline the penalty. Then he would announce the penalty, and the team’s decision, on the PA system for everyone to hear.
Could it also be that he’s checking for dissent from the other officials?
We’ve all seen games in which, after the first signal, the ref changes the call and announces no foul.
The first one is to let everyone know what is coming. He knows what the call is, but he may not know who did it or what the exact circumstances of the penalty were.
He then consults with the official who threw the flag to get those details. He also has to get the decision to accept or decline.
I think the early indication is just to give everyone an idea of whats going on. On TV you at least get the commentators idea of what the penalty is. In the stadium, the wait to find out can be excruciating. So I am quite happy to have the first signal.