Rule 17 — Emergencies, Unfair Acts
Section 1 — Emergencies
Article 1 — Non-Player on Field
If any non-player enters the field of play or end zones and interferes with play, the Referee, after consulting the crew, shall enforce any such penalty or score as the interference warrants.
Article 2 — Field Control
If spectators enter the field and interfere with the progress of the game such that the game cannot continue, the Referee shall declare timeout and record the number of the down, distance, position of the ball, and time remaining. The Referee shall then order the home club to have the field cleared.
Article 3 — Game Called
If the game must be called due to a state or municipal law, or by darkness if no lights are available, an immediate report shall be made to the League by the home club, visiting club, officials, and Game Observer. The League shall make a decision which will be final.
Article 4 — Emergency Situations
The League affirms the position that in most circumstances all regular season and postseason games should be played to their conclusion. If, in the opinion of appropriate League authorities, it is impossible to begin or continue a game due to an emergency, the following procedures will serve as guidelines.
Article 5 — League Authority
League employees vested with the authority to define emergencies include the League, designated representatives from the League office staff, especially the Game Observer, and the game Referee.
Article 6 — Later Date
If, because of an emergency, a regular season or postseason game is not started at its scheduled time and cannot be played at any later time that same day, the game must be played on a subsequent date to be determined by the League.
Article 7 — Pre-Game Threat
If there is deemed to be a threat of an emergency that may occur during the playing of a game, the starting time of such game will not be moved to an earlier time unless there is clearly sufficient time to make an orderly change.
Article 8 — Interrupted Game
If an interrupted regular season or postseason game cannot be completed on the same day, such game will be rescheduled by the League and resumed at that point.
Article 9 — Alternate Dates, Sites
In instances requiring the League to reschedule a regular season game, the League will make every effort to set the game for no later than two days after its originally scheduled date.
Article 10 — Postseason Interruption
If an emergency interrupts a postseason game and such game cannot be resumed on that same date, the League will make every effort to arrange for its completion as soon as possible.
Article 11 — Game Resumption
In all instances where a game is resumed after interruption, the resumption will begin at the point at which the game was interrupted. The Referee will make a record of: the team possessing the ball, direction of its offense, position of the ball, down, distance, period, time remaining, and other pertinent information.
Section 2 — Extraordinarily Unfair Acts
Article 1 — League Authority
The League has the sole authority to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an AFLE game which the League deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game.
Article 2 — No Club Protests
The authority provided in this Section does not constitute a protest mechanism for AFLE clubs. The investigation will be conducted solely on the League's initiative to review an act or occurrence that the League deems so extraordinary or unfair.
Article 3 — Penalties for Unfair Acts
The League's powers include the imposition of monetary fines and draft-choice forfeitures, suspension of persons involved in unfair acts, and, if appropriate, the reversal of a game's result or the rescheduling of a game.