[BillyMac]

Yesterday a rookie official asked me a very high level question and I “stumbled” through an answer.

Here's the email clarification that I sent him today.

How did I do?

Question: What is the practical difference between a team control foul and a player control foul.

A team control foul is a common foul committed by a member of the team that has team control (holding, dribbling, passing).

A player control foul is a common foul committed by a player while he/she is in control of the ball (holding, dribbling) OR by an airborne shooter.

Remember that an airborne shooter, after the ball has been released on a shot (try) is not a team member in control (holding or dribbling), but can still be charged with a player control foul.

No team control during a try (shot).

Thus all player control fouls are not necessarily also team control fouls.

Because the difference is more academic than practical, we now use the same signal (back of the head) for both types of fouls, whereas we used two different signals (back of head and fist punch) a few years ago before the team control signal was changed.

Even before the recent signal change, many officials had been incorrectly using a fist punch for player control fouls, favoring the incorrect fist punch over the correct back of the head, thinking that the fist punch was a “stronger signal”.

Thus, you will often see older veterans incorrectly using the old team control fist punch for many “offensive type” fouls, old dog, new tricks.

Also keep in mind that a team control foul is also a common foul committed by a member of the throwin team from the start of the throwin until player control is obtained inbounds.