Play The Whistle …

[BillyMac]

Just got a call from an old friend who is getting back into officiating after twenty year absence. Rather than take the local rules classes and exam in the fall, he’s taking his classes and test through IAABO University (it’s true, that’s what they call it).

He called me about this question.

Game clock shows two seconds left in the game. Official hands ball to inbounder A-1 for a throwin. A-1 releases the throwin pass. While the throwin pass is in the air, before being touched by anybody, the game horn erroneously sounds. Inbound passed ball continues, without touching a player, out of bounds. Official resets the game clock to two seconds and puts the ball at the disposal of Team A at the original throwin spot. Is the official correct?

My friend said that the official was correct. In a real heat of the game situation, using common sense, and figuring that the players were distracted by the erroneous horn, I probably would have done the same thing as the official in the question and I probably wouldn't have had to make a coach sit on the team bus in a cold parking lot, or in a smelly locker room.

But is that a "rulebook answer"?

IAABO University said that the official was incorrect, with no explanation.

So, here's my “rulebook” explanation. The game horn erroneously sounding did not cause the ball to become dead. So A-1 threw a “live” inbound pass, untouched by any player, out of bounds, a definite throwin violation. The official game knew that the clock should not have started and had definite knowledge to reset the clock back to two seconds. Due to A-1’s throwin violation, Team B gets the ball at its disposal at the spot of the original throwin.

Then get ready to send an irate coach to the cold bus, or to the smelly locker room.

What says the Forum?