With the Texas Longhorns joining the conference this year, simply making the “put the horns down” gesture will no longer count as a penalty in SEC football games, officials confirmed.
SEC refereeing coordinator John McDade explained the league's approach to punishing opposing players who display the offensive symbol, a reverse of the “horns up” gesture made by Texas fans, at SEC media day.
“We're trying to read into the context of what it was,” McDaid said. “We're asking the umpires to make a judgment call on whether it's provoking the opposition, whether it's making a travesty of the game or whether it's affecting our ability to manage the game.”
McDaid said players would likely not be penalized if they made the upside-down horn gesture while celebrating with teammates away from the opposing team.
“If he tackles a player and stands on top of the player to tackle him, that's provocation and that's unsportsmanlike conduct,” McDade said.
The horn down is the reverse of the “hook the horn” hand gesture commonly used by Texas fans, with the ring and middle fingers down and the index and pinky fingers extended up.
The original sign, devised by Texas student Henry Pitts and said to date back to the 1950s, resembles a longhorn bull, the famous Texas football mascot.
“Horns down” is a disrespectful inversion of the sign made by rivals, with the wrist bent downwards so the “horns” point down instead of up.
The conversation surrounding Horns Down has been a staple topic in the Big 12 Conference for years and was expected to come up again with Texas joining the SEC along with rival Oklahoma, whose players and fans have frequently used the gesture to annoy Longhorns fans.
And judging by McDade's comments, they would still be able to do so, but only under certain circumstances.
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