I witnessed a Veteran Official call a team warning for delay when an opponent of the Thrower-in slapped the ball out of the throwers hand.
The opponent might have taken a swipe at the ball first without hitting it but in any case there was no whistle untill the ball was hit.
The Veteran Official's partner, a rookie, came up to him and said..."There is no team warning in this situation, it is an automatic "T"!!
The Veteran Official calmly looked both at his partner and the Thrower-in's Coach and explained:
"Per Rule 9-2-11...the opponent(s) of the thrower shall not have any part of his/her person through the inbounds side of the throw-in boundary-line plane until the ball has been released on a throw-in pass." (This guy had a photogenic memory) He went on to say, "Per the PENALTY section of this rule...the first violation of the throw-in boundary-line plane by an opponent(s) of the thrower shall result in a team warning for delay being given...one warning per team per game."
The cagey ol' Veteran was building up to his following statement..."Since the PENALTY section states that the ball becomes dead when the violation occurs, I HAD A DEAD BALL WHEN THE OPPONENT FIRST BROKE THE PLANE AND BEFORE HE EVEN TOUCHED THE BALL!!! Since this is the opponents first "violation" for breaking the plane...it will ONLY BE A WARNING!"
The Rookie Official looked at the Veteran and shook his head saying, "In that case a team would never get a "T" for their "FIRST" slap of the ball because you are saying they broke the plane, thus a violation, before they ever even hit the ball!!!????"
"That is correct", the wiley Vet said.
Dude
P.S. (Maybe I saw this in a dream....)
