Carl, don't do that!

[Warren Willson]

Originally posted by Whowefoolin
My question, if an umpire says, "Don't do that!", should a rule back that up? Can an umpire just tell a player not to do something if it is not in the rule book?

But, Max, it IS in the rule book. Try OBR 9.01(b) which says in part, "Each umpire has authority to order a player, coach, manager or club officer or employee to do or refrain from doing anything which affects the administering of these rules..."

Carl is right that a "don't do that" is definitely NOT A WARNING but instead normally connotes a legal direction to cease breaching a rule that carries no specific penalty for that breach, usually a pitching rule. The legal authority for that "direction" is in OBR 9.01(b). So you can tell the coach to buzz off and mind his own business and cite OBR 9.01(b) for THAT, too! (grin)

Cheers,

[Edited by Warren Willson on Feb 14th, 2001 at 05:37 PM]