Quote:
Originally Posted by bob jenkins
Possible thread hijack:
Play: A1 attempts a two-handed, over-the-head crosscourt pass. As she releases the ball, B1 contacts her on the forearm with an open palm ("smack"). The pass is still released. If we paused the action right here, the official judges the contact to be incidental, especially given the level of play and the calls that night. Resume action. The pass floats, and B2 intercepts the pass.
Question: Is it too late to go back and get a foul on B1?
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When there is a case where the question can be asked "is it too late...", the official has to (a) have a quick whistle if there is one, and (b) quickly judge the intent of the action prior to the foul.
This is where having played the game helps.
Camps taught me to know where the ball is going (on a pass, who the intended receiver is, etc) and if illegal contact hinders that goal, then yes, grab the foul.
When there is a smack as in your play bob, I think it's easier to call a foul, even if it's late. So yes, grab that foul. It wasn't incidental and shouldn't have been thought of that way in the first place.
I think there are some fouls that in our heads, are delayed fouls. They're not immediately known to be incidental, or immediately known to have a whistle. We do wait a short amount of time to gather more information. I once saw one of the top college officials in my (ahem) state whistle a play down a good 1.5 seconds after the foul. It was 100% the right call, but just late. No a single person said anything to him.