Editor’s Note: In recent weeks, the crossfire rule in team roping has (once again) become one of the most discussed topics in the sport, raising questions about how it is interpreted and enforced at the professional level.
To provide clarity, PRCA Team Roping Director and two-time World Champion Kaleb Driggers shares a detailed explanation of the rule, its origins, and how officials intend to judge it moving forward.
Driggers’ letter outlines the intent behind the current rule language, the challenges judges have faced in applying it consistently and what contestants and fans can expect as enforcement is emphasized for the remainder of the season.
OLD RULE
R10.8.3 Throwing Heel Loop. The direction of the steer’s body must be changed before the heel loop can be thrown. However, if the steer stops, it must only be moving forward for the heel loop to be legal.
Any heel loop thrown before the completion of the initial switch will be considered a crossfire and no time will be recorded.R10.8.3
Throwing Heel Loop. “Crossfire” The heel rope cannot come in contact with the steers legs until BOTH:
• The header has control of the steer’s head
• And the steer’s hips have changed direction, with the steer having forward motion.A steer that stops, slows down, or drifts towards the header, must still fulfill rule A and B. If a crossfire has been determined, a no time will be recorded.
The “new rule” was initiated by the head of judging at the time, who was in contact with Wesley Thorp to help educate on the topic.
Long story short, all Pro officials, the head of judging, and Bobby Harris met in Fort Worth to have a meeting with Thorp and Brooke Bearden. Dave Dillon ran the meeting, and they began to hash it out from both sides. After a couple of days, they wanted to watch some runs, so they went to Thorp’s house, where they watched hours of live team roping runs, videoed them,and discussed them.
After that, Dave Dillon—who is as good as there is when it comes to writing rules—helped orchestrate what is now considered the new rule.
There were two points in the old rule that judges were having a hard time with:
- It was difficult to decipher when the end of the initial switch happened
- It was hard to track the heeler’s delivery while also watching the motion of the steer
So the new rule was never intended to change, nor be more lenient on, the crossfire. It was designed to make it simpler for judges to interpret and visualize what was happening.
Everyone was on the same page and excited to move forward, because they believed it was a step in a positive direction.
Not long after this took place, I was elected as the team roping director, and they asked for this rule to be put into place—with the understanding that judges would be given better training techniques and video explanations moving forward.
Phase 2 of that change was going to be an instructional video that judges could watch, with voiceovers explaining exactly what they were seeing and the reasoning behind whether a run was legal or not. After many hours of work, it never made it to production.
With that being said, there is an app being developed that will hopefully, in the near future, be available as a training tool.
I will say that this has never been, and will never be, a situation where the PRCA, judges or any single contestant has acted with ill will toward anyone.
We are still dealing with human error. As much as everyone would like perfect decisions every time, that is not reality.
Mistakes will happen. The goal is to minimize them and continue improving.
One thing to also consider is that the angle you are watching from at home is often not the same view the flagger has in real time. Things can look very different depending on perspective.
As we work through this, I ask for a little grace—for both contestants and judges.
MOVING FORWARD
Part 1 — Giving the judges the reins back
We have been hard on judges as contestants and fans, and that pressure can cloud decision-making. I don’t say that lightly—I am guilty of it myself.
Have you ever been scared to make a split-second decision? That is not when we are at our best.
So moving forward, we are going to allow judges to do the job they are trained and paid to do. Do we always have to agree? No. But we can handle it with respect.
Part 2 — Accountability
If the same errors in judgment continue beyond what would be considered normal human error, judges will be required to complete a set number of training hours before being allowed to officiate again.
This is a commitment that has been made by the PRCA and the head of judging, as they want to see this move in the right direction as well.
Part 3 — Looking ahead
If we move through the second half of the season and see the need for another rule change, it will be discussed and potentially put in place for 2027.
There will be no new rule mid-season.
Right now, the focus is on enforcing the rule as it was intended to be judged.
The reason behind this is that, as fans watching on Cowboy Channel, it is also my job to keep you informed on what is happening.
And I ask for your support as we try to move this in a positive direction.
With that being said, what you have grown accustomed to believing is a legal shot may start to be viewed differently.
At the highest levels of team roping, what many believe to be the harder shot—the crossfire—is actually the easiest shot to make.
Riding the turn and delivering on the first hop is much more difficult at the speed we are competing today.
Enforcing this rule is crucial because it is one step of a team roping run that should not go easily. In comparison it would be like watching The Masters and every hole being a Par 3.
That is why, as a whole, we feel like this is a necessary step to protect the integrity of team roping as it was designed to be.
Thank you for reading,
Kaleb Driggers
