Quote:
Originally Posted by Welpe
What can we do in a game like this to ensure that we're calling the perimeter play consistently but not drowning the game in whistles?
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Too many officials fall into that trap. There is no magic number of fouls. You're not looking for the 8-10 most obvious fouls. If they're playing beyond the bounds of legal play, call the fouls. Even if it puts a LOT of whistles in a game. You set the threshold for contact and they get to adjust. You shouldn't back off just because you've had a few whistles if you're calling it consistently (there may be other reasons to loosen up or tighten up but the absolute numbers are not one of them).
I can have a game with 10-15 fouls on a team in a half and have a game the next night with only 2-3. In fact, on Monday, the first foul I called on the visiting team was in the 3rd quarter (only 1 by that team in the 1st half) and the other team only had 5 in the first half. And we didn't pass on anything....they just didn't foul. Having fouls to give, both teams came out a lot more aggressively and each got to the double bonus in the 2nd half.
In another recent game, we were at the double bonus for both teams early in the 2nd Q.
Each game is different and some will have a lot of fouls and some will have few.
While some might think and promote that calling few fouls is a desirable goal as an official, that really only makes the game get increasingly rough because it encourages passing on illegal contact.