In the past few years the NFL has become a stickler when it comes to touchdown celebrations, and has made it so that it’s a penalized event. For me, the touchdown celebrations and dances were some of the best parts of the game. Now that they are “illegal” football just isn’t the same. Not only has this fairly new rule taken away from the whole mood of the game, but it has caused even larger problems for the NFL.

Husain Abdullah, a free safety for the Chiefs, was penalized after sliding to his knees in the end zone and bowing his head in prayer. The referees saw his actions as “excessive celebration”, and gave him a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Maybe it’s just me, but something seems wrong about the whole situation. Using unsportsmanlike and excessive in the same sentence as prayer seems sacrilegious. Someone has some apologizing to do to the Chiefs, Abdullah and God after that call.

Apparently, there is an exception to this rule for religious expressions. However, if the referees are going to penalize anyway it means nothing. It’s understandable that at first the official might mistake an expression such as this for “excessive celebration”, but while reviewing the play someone should have corrected the mistake. I mean, how often does a celebration include someone bowing their head as if in prayer?

After the game the NFL did say that Abdullah should not have been penalized, but that was a little too late. The Chiefs did manage to win the game, but if they hadn’t this call could have been the cause. Sure, that’s the case with most calls from officials, but because of its religious aspects this call is a little different. It’s great that the NFL released a statement to fix the mistake, yet it shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.

In order to stop this from happening in the future the NFL must clarify this rule to its players, coaches and officials. If they are going to implement rules such as this they need to make sure that everyone understands the fine print. An area of controversy in this case, was the fact that the safety slide to his knees before he prayed. Technically, celebration while on the ground is prohibited, however because Abdullah did this in order to pray the penalty should have never been called.

Maybe the referee didn’t know this, maybe they called it because he slid, whatever the case may be it could have been avoided if the details of this rule had been clearly defined.

It’s great that this penalty was recognized as the wrong call, but the Chiefs should have avoided the hassle in the first place. This new anti-celebration rule has been more trouble than it has been helpful. What’s so harmful about a player celebrating a job well done? All of the players are grown men; they should have thick enough skin to deal with it. Plus, if this rule didn’t exist controversies such as the one with Adullah could be avoided all together.