dizzy score keeper
 

Here's how I remember the situation: (middle school game).
Scorekeeper is told by the home team(white) coach to just copy yesterdays lineup into today's score book. No problem so far.
(fyi, #1 white changed into #3w jersey w/o telling his coach before the game started).
#3w not listed in book, just #1w.
Game is started, #3w gets into the game w/o the officials being notified. #3w commits a foul, score keeper, who realizes that #3w s/b #1w, just logs the foul in #1's box in the score book. Play continues, dead ball, #3w gets replaced by #12w. After a few minutes of playing time goes by, a time out is called. During the time out, coach from blue team says # 3w was in game illegally.

Comment: It's too late to penalize. (Can penalize if & when #3w does re-enter the game).
Questions:
1. The foul that was charged to #1w, how does it get corrected in the book?
2. Can #3w go to the locker room and change to #1w?

Thanks in advance, I'll be back after I down a few Miller's.

I'm penalizing this when it is brought to my attention.
I will have the scorer correct the book to properly reflect the player's jersey number and assess the team tech.
I'm not permitting the home team to get away with an infraction because the scorer didn't do his job properly.

Let's Go To The Videotape ...
 

I like this resolution.

But #3 was not in the game at time we were informed of the problem.

But #3 had committed a foul and the number had not been changed in the book. So, now it needs to be changed.

What if the player did nothing stat-wise while in the game? Still a tech? Just curious.

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It's the requiring of a change in the book that triggered the T, so penalize when that occurred.

In this case, he can either go to the locker room and change, or we can change the book.

Had the scorer notified us as soon as he entered the game, those are the options the coach would have been given.

The way this rule reads, it's not the timing of when they go in or out of the game that you go by. The violation that occurs is the changing of the book - that occurred when you caught it, whether the player was in the game or not.

What if the coach says, and is true, that he never returns to the game?

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That would be the third option (I forgot about that one). If he never returns, then we never have to change the book. That's probably the option I would take as a coach. It's more likely to teach the kid a lesson if he can't play.

In the case of the OP, his return to the game is irrelevant. The change in the book is the violation. He has participated using a number not in the book, and the book must be changed to reflect that.

I disagree. The book is currently wrong. It must be changed. The violation has occurred.

I would even submit that if he goes to the locker room and changes numbers, he's committed a SECOND violation.

Well, if you penalize the first, there's no further penalty for the 2nd. My understanding of the case play is that the NFHS makes us make the change if the player has created an official stat that must be entered in the book (foul or points). Otherwise, once the player has gone to the bench they don't have to make the change if he stays on the bench (or he could simply go to the locker room and put on the right number).

I could be wrong, though. That's just my read of the case play and that's how I would handle it in the game, unless I get convinced otherwise.

NOT a Tech, according to either a case play or an interp.

Also not a Tech if the home book just changes the number and doesn't tell the officials until later.

I can certainly see the point that this could create some "unfairness" if the home book acted one way for the home team and one way for the visitors, but I don't see it happening often enough to be a big concern.

There is an NFHS Interp from a few years ago which states that there is no penalty until the player returns to the game. However, that is wrong. The person who wrote that failed to recognize that by rule the scorer is to keep a record of all players (starters and substitutes) who have participated in the game. Where is that record kept?--The official scorebook. Since the kid played, he needs to be properly recorded in the book.
I agree that a team member with an incorrect number isn't penalized if he never participates.

Let's Go To The Videotape ...
 

When a substitute enters the game, the scorer marks off the quarter that they are entering in the scorebook, assuming they have not already been in at some point during that quarter. Does this notation not count as "an official stat?" It seems to me that if they played, then there should be record of it in the scorebook.

I believe the case book play cited by Nevada and posted by Billy is in reference to an oblivious scorekeeper, who made an unintentional error. The OP may have also meant this, but for the sake of discussion, if the scorer knew about the jersey change, and waited to tell the officials, thinking it wasn't that big of a deal, I don't think I'd go so far as to accuse that person of deliberately influencing the game, but if you knew the scorekeeper knew, does this change anyone's answer as to how to handle the situation?

You mean the score keeper intentionally makes the change in the book without telling the officials until later?

Yeah, if it's absolutely clear he was being deceptive, I'm having him replaced. That's the only thing I'm doing differently.

If there is a visitor book shouldnt they have caught this and reported it to the officials? Is this why you want to have your own book to catch mistakes like this?

A visitor's book could certainly have caught this, but this is a pretty unusual event. More common things that get caught are score and number of fouls. When I was keeping books, the most common error was PFs (or techs) not also getting marked as TFs, and (less often) points given to the player but not the running count.