clarification of National Federation rule

The call was correct, there is no automatic 1st down on defensive holding. There are only 4 fouls that result in an automatic 1st down:

- Roughing the kicker or holder
- Roughing the passer
- Roughing the snapper (if a player is in position for a direct snap more than 7 yards deep and the snapper has his head down, you can't touch him until he picks up his head)
- Forward pass interference (the ball has to cross the LOS, there is no pass interference in the backfield)

See Rule 10 Article 7.

Surprising, isn't it? I'd have thought for sure a personal foul would be an automatic 1st, you would think you would want that to be as severe a penalty as possible. Lost a game I thought we would win, late in the game there was a late hit OB but it was half the distance, leaving us with 4th and 4, fans are screaming at the ref, coaches are screaming at the ref, I'm trying to tell my coaches to cool it, no one could believe it but that's the rule.