A shift to official national intramural flag football rules and away from the physical game that made Brandeis IM football unique has left players incensed and a league without a defending champion. Tom Rand, the new assistant director for recreation/club/IM sports announced that the Brandeis flag football league would adopt the official rules of flag football played by most of the college teams in the country.

Rand's announcement caused six teams to break away from the league, five of which reconciled their differences with the rule changes yesterday. Only last year's champion, the Burning Zetlins, remain absent.

The rule changes are significant, turning a more traditional power game of football into a game of throw and catch more suited to smaller, quicker players. The rule changes deal primarily with the institution of screen blocking, as opposed to the physical blocking of traditional football.

With screen blocking, almost all physical contact is eliminated. Offensive linemen may not move to protect the quarterback, and defensive linemen may not run through the offensive line to attack the quarterback. All blocks are simply screens and must be done from a stationary position, and the defender must run around the block.

This leads to a game where the quarterback receives the snap a few yards behind the offensive line in the shotgun, and is basically forced to play a game of catch with his wide receivers. While offensive linemen are now eligible receivers, the rule changes are more suited to agile players.

"The game is based more on speed, agility and quickness as opposed to all-out strength," Rand said.

This is especially frustrating to members of the Burning Zetlins. The Zetlins play a physical brand of football with big offensive linemen who can open up holes for a running game and give a quarterback time in the pocket.

"For us, it's the difference between catch and baseball," Zetlins defensive end and full back Rob Brickman (GRAD) said. "I'm sure it's a fun game, but it certainly isn't football in the true sense."

Brickman is not the only one echoing that sentiment, nor are the Zetlins the only team complaining about the new rules. A league that sported 11 teams last year initially looked like it would lose six teams. The six that broke away, including the Zetlins, had hoped to form their own independent league, a move Rand says he would have supported.

"I told them if they didn't want to play by these rules they could form their own league," Rand said.

The teams were never able to organize a league and the other five decided they would rather play football than sit idle.

Rand said the rules were instituted because of liability concerns stemming from more physical play and the opportunity to have Brandeis teams competing with other schools.

"[In the past] the league was more student run," Rand said. "[The athletic administration] got reports of a lot of fights and a lot of injuries. It's a liability for the school. If our students who win here want to go to any regional or national tournaments, these are the rules they have to play by."

Despite having surrendered to these rules, players still speak up against them.

"They don't like these rules because they want to block and hit people," Rand said. "The argument I've heard is this isn't football. But this isn't football. This is intramural flag football. If you want to hit people we have a rugby team. There is still strategy with these rules."

One person who does support Rand's decision is the former director of the league, Alex Thompson '04. While he appreciates the value of the truly simulated football that came with the old rules, Thompson has faith in Brandeis athletics.

"I have always known [the athletic department] to make the right decisions," Thompson said.

"We're doing it the right way," Athletic Director Sheryl Sousa said. "Overall, students are going to have a much better experience in our intramural program.