The True Story of the Band's 15-Yard Penalty

Recently, there was some discussion online in one of the community groups about when a band can, or cannot, play during a football game. Most people generally assume that a band can play whenever they want, and that is not true.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) rules state that a marching band is strictly prohibited from playing during live-ball situations. In fact, if the coach of a team on offense claims that the players cannot hear due to excessive noise from the band, the head referee may issue a warning to the band director. In extreme cases, a band may receive an unsportsmanlike conduct foul and a 15-yard penalty.

Lest you think an official would never flag a band, here’s the story: it happened to me, my band and my team.

I was serving as the band director at Robert E. Lee High School (now Percy Julian High School) in Montgomery. Robert E. Lee’s former football coach, Spence McCracken, had moved on to Opelika High School, our opponent for the night. Robert E. Lee’s coach at the time was Bill Granger, who had been very kind to me since I started working at the school only a few weeks earlier. That Friday night in Cramton Bowl, my relationship with the coaching staff would be tested.

The Robert E. Lee vs. Opelika game was always a big deal because both schools traditionally fielded competitive teams with some of the best athletes in the area and usually found themselves in the playoffs. On this particular occasion, the then-head of the AHSAA, Dan Washburn, was in attendance and standing on the Opelika sideline with Coach McCracken.

Nobody had ever pointed out any rules to me other than we couldn’t play at the line of scrimmage or if the players were in a huddle. I knew we had to keep it short and only make music between plays.

However, that night, I experienced something I’ve explained to my colleagues for years but nobody ever believes: I was flagged by the head of the AHSAA himself.

The Robert E. Lee band was playing while our team was on defense. Now, conventional wisdom, or “Band 101,” would say that you want to make noise while the other team has the ball. That’s what we were doing.

Coach Washburn marched across that field, his face red, and he hollered at me up in the bleachers. He angrily pulled out a yellow flag and threw it at the band, and gave us a 15-yard penalty. I asked him what it was for, and he said I needed to read my AHSAA rule book.

Well, that 15-yard penalty didn’t make me any friends on the football team or coaching staff … and I was so afraid to get another one, I shut the band down from playing anything, which made for a very bad evening at the Bowl.

The band students tried to rebel and play some on their own, but I took drumsticks and mouthpieces while the audience booed at me.

The next Monday morning, I was in the principal’s office with the head coach, and learned my place: we only play when we have the ball, and even then, between plays.

In the years since, I have been to hundreds of football games and seen all my colleagues violating these rules. I even asked the next executive director of the AHSAA, Steve Savarese, how often these rules were applied. He told me that Coach Washburn was right and that bands may only play at certain times, but he said he’d never heard of a band director being penalized.

Now you know one. Be careful out there.



Michael Bird is assistant professor of music at Faulkner University.