Quote:
Originally posted by James Neil
I thought it best to get away from the thread that this subject evolved from. Its driving me crazy why you know who is driving me so crazy LOL. Any who , Docs post about tossing a flag for an USC in a youth game and then thinking twice about it , got me thinking about a situation that happened to me this last year .
Running play by the team whose leading big time late in the game ends OOB on my sideline (Im LJ, 3-man, PW midgets) I toss my bag at the OOB spot and follow the players OOB watching the dead ball action. I retrieve ball and am coming back onto the field when I see a B52 contact A32 (the runner) by bringing his arm from his hip, open handed with his heal of his palm directly too the back of the A32 while A32 was walking back to his huddle. I say hey, knock it off and toss my flag. All of this happened in plain view of B52 sideline and coach. The WH comes over and asks what I got; I tell him B52 punched A32 after the play. The B coach is protesting that it wasnt a punch, it was open handed. The WH asks me if it was a punch or a push. I told him B52 struck A32 in the back. He said thats good enough for me hes out of here, and ejected the kid. After thinking all this over, I really wish Id reported this as a dead ball personal foul. B52s action were clearly in anger and frustration but I feel this particular foul could have been better handled with a 15 yarder and a little talk .
BTW, I talked to the kids father after the game and he said he though we did the right thing.
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Mr Neil,
what you described sounds more like a shove than a punch. Nothing wrong with the call you made but of course I would have handled it differently. I would not have penalized a frustrated B team who was already losing big late in the game. Instead, I would have sat B52 down for the remainder of the game, kept my flag, and explained to B52 and B coach why he could not return.