Losing control of the game.

[Rich]

Originally posted by RecRef
With all respect for Tony and TriggerMN, Juule is 100 percent correct in here suggestion.

We are talking about a bunch “10/11 year old kids” getting banged around in a “RECREATIONAL” league game. Not a North Carolina State tournament game or a NCAA Woman’s game. In all probability the refs doing the game were two 14 or 15 year olds who had minimal training and were afraid to blow the whistle because some adult is going to scream at them. Chances are that these kids are playing on some elementary school court that is tile on concrete.

If it was as bad as cuttplug says, and we do know that coaches tend to exaggerate a bit, the coaches not only have a right to approach the refs but they are legally responsible for the safety of the children. Like Padgett, I’ve been on the board of a rec league for a long time, 12 years in my case, and we preach the young refs and to the coaches that the safety of the kids comes first.

If I had a dollar for everytime some clueless coach used the phrase, "Someone's going to get hurt if you don't do something!" I'd be rich. Wait, I AM Rich.

Basketball is not a non-contact sport. Players will make contact with each other, and the official's job is to penalize such contact that causes an advantage not intended by the rules. Just cause they throw their bodies into each other, on the floor, and into walls doesn't mean that we should be looking to invent fouls that aren't there -- which is what I hear whenever I work games at this level, which admittedly isn't very often anymore.