If I remember correctly there is a True/False question on the NFHS test that says "An official's whistle causes the ball to become dead."
The answer is of course False...the ball is usually already dead when the official blows the whistle.
Soooo, do we have an exception here with the inadvertant whistle?
How would we call this Sitch:
A1 passes the ball to A2 in his frontcourt, the ball bounces off of A2 and into the backcourt the Referee then blows the whistle inadvertantly. Team A has the arrow.
In the above Sitch the ball is live, just like on the FG try. Do we give the ball to Team A even though if Team A had recovered the ball it would have been a backcourt violation?
How would we call this Sitch:
A1 passes the ball to A2, A2 cannot catch the ball and the ball bounces toward the sideline. An inadvertant whistle sounds just before the ball goes OOB. Team A has the arrow.
In both cases, it would seem unfair to give the ball to Team A because they obviously would have lost possesion if the whistle hadn't sounded inadvertantly. But, by the book Case 7.5.4b "while Team A is in control and passing among teamates"
RULING: Team A with a throw-in at the nearest out-of-bounds spot to where the ball was when the whistle was accidently sounded.
So what's my point? I don't really know at this point, except that maybe we can cause a live ball to become dead with our inadvertant whistle even though it seems to be an injustice to one of the teams.
Live ball on the court vs. Live ball on the shot...
Apples and Oranges? Probably, but food for thought.
RD