RULE 8 — APPLICATION OF PENALTIES

SECTION 6 — FOUL IN GOAL

  1. If Team A commits a foul while in possession of the ball in its Goal Area, the penalty shall be applied from PLS or option.

  2. If Team A commits a holding foul in its Goal Area while in possession of the ball in its Goal Area

    PENALTY: Safety Touch, L10 applied from PLS.

    EXCEPTIONS:

    Intentional Grounding — Rule 6, Section 4, Article 7

    Offside Pass — Rule 6, Section 3, Article 4

  3. If Team B commits a foul in its Goal Area while in possession of the ball in its Goal Area, Team A may elect to:
    1. accept the one or two point score, if applicable, or,
    2. decline the penalty and accept the play as it terminated or,
    3. decline the score and require the penalty to be applied against Team B from its 15-yard line.

If the foul is committed outside the Goal Area while Team B is in possession of the ball in its Goal Area, the penalty shall be applied from Team B's 15-yard line or option.

EXCEPTIONS:

Interception in Goal Area — Rule 6, Section 4, Article 12

Recovery of opponent's fumble in Goal Area — Rule 1, Section 9, Article 7.

If a team commits a foul in the opponent's Goal Area, the penalty shall be applied as though the foul had occurred in the Field of Play. However, where a yardage penalty would otherwise be applicable in the Goal Area, it shall be applied as follows:

  1. If the foul occurs before a score is made, the score shall be disallowed and the penalty shall be applied from the 15-yard line.
  2. If the foul occurs after a score is made, the score shall count and the penalty shall be applied from the point where the ball is next put into play. If the scoring play was a touchdown, the non-offending team may elect to have the penalty applied on the convert or subsequent kickoff.
  3. If foul occurs after interception in Goal Area, see Rule 6, Section 4, Article 12.
  4. If Team A makes an offside pass in Team B's Goal Area in the act of completing a forward pass (i.e. the ball is touched by an eligible Team A receiver in Team B's Goal Area and deflected in an offside direction, where it is caught by another Team A player who is not eligible as a receiver), the pass shall be ruled as caught by the second Team A player at the point where it was touched by the first Team A player.

THE OFFICIAL PLAYING RULES FOR THE CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2023

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Content compiled and written by Jeff Harbin and Andre Proulx

The CFL Official Rule Book is published annually by the Canadian Football League. Any inquiries regarding the CFL Official Playing Rules may be directed to Darren Hackwood, Associate Vice-President of Officiating at dhackwood@cfl.ca. Any inquiries regarding CFL Statistical Scoring Rules may be directed to Jeff Krever, Head, CFL Player and Game Statistics at jkrever@cfl.ca.