Quote:
Originally posted by roadking
the reason i asked, if you look at the rule 4-25 art.1, it has the definition of hand in the plural form. ive had another official tell me that you must have two hands on the ball in a non try situation, but ive called held ball with just one hand on the ball. if you read the rule to the letter it sounds like you need two hands on the ball, i just want to get it right . thanks
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It reads in part: "A held ball occurs when: Opponents have their hands..."
The rules assume that if you have Opponents (plural), you will also have hands (plural). This is a correct assumption usually. However, what if the ball is on the ground and a player falls on it and traps it under his body while another is trying to wrest it free. This would be another example of a held ball even though only one opponent has hands on the ball.
Remember, the book can't cover every conceivable type of play nor do we want it to.