Teams are recommended to appoint a regular crew of assistants who will be available to do these jobs for every game. In the interests of safety, the officials' assistants should not wear the colours of either team. It is desirable that officials' assistants be attired with brightly coloured vests to enable them to be distinguished on the sideline. When provided with an inexperienced crew of assistants, the referee is recommended to use the best individual as down box operator, the next two best as stake operators, and the next two best as ball persons. Where only five assistants are available, the down box operator shall also perform the duties of the chain clip operator.
Alternate operators are optional.
Fewer than minimum number of assistants provided. Officials' assistants provided later than 30 minutes before kickoff. Water Carriers Persons carrying liquid refreshment for use or consumption by players shall only be permitted on the field of play with the permission of the referee. The water carrier may only provide refreshment and may not communicate coaching information to players. Water carriers shall only be permitted on the field during charged team timeouts, two- minute warning timeouts, injury timeouts or between periods.