i reffed a game today and i would like some input on the call i made. A1 and B1 are battling for the ball by the oob's line A1 is fixing to grab the ball but B1 pushes A1 to get to the ball as he goes out of bounds. i immediately blow my whistle and call a foul on B1 because he pushed A1 before going out of bounds. the crowd came unglued and hollored that he was going for the ball and no contact was made. I felt like i made the right call. I want to know if i was right, and if not what could i have done different. Your advice please.

Wilkey, if you thought it was a foul, then it's a foul. It's that simple. Quit second-guessing yourself. And never, ever listen to the crowd. They're fans.

Yea, what he said!!

Fans/ Coaches will be Fans/Coaches
 

Yeah, I remember a game about a month ago where every possible thing that could go wrong happened to the home team. Every slight OOB and reach in was going against them, and when they were driving the hole a mob came into the paint and my partner and I couldn't see, thus didn't call, anything. Of course the fans were going crazy; I remember one point in particular, after a missed FT by B, A1 got the ball easily, took a step backwards, and then dribbles over the line slightly. I hated calling it, because I knew that would just get the crowd and Coach(who earned the First T I have given out about 2 minutes later) more into the "anti-ref" mode. But I had to call it, and of course everyone's like "AWW, NO Way!!."

It just goes to show that go with your first instinct, the fans will act the way they do anyway when it comes to a call against their team, ignore them!! I even had the AD tell me at halftime that it was looking a little one-sided; that about set me off, but I figured I could talk to her later that week in the county tourney I was officiating for her.

Re: Fans/ Coaches will be Fans/Coaches
 

You are correct, call the game by the rules. Most fans/coaches only have an inkling of what the rules really say, and most don't care as long as it goes in favor of THEIR team.

This AD was out of line in approaching you at halftime about the way the game was being called. What level of play was this?

My rule is, whichever fans are louder or more threating get the calls. It's simple and it works.:D

Had an 8th grade youth league game yesterday with a green partner and a very young coach along with young (high school age) assistants who didn't know the rules. These "coaches" would make smart-*** comments to each other about the officiating and always wanted the "over the back call" and expected a foul call every time they shot. Their opponents happened to be a better coached team and they played strong defense throughout, so the foul count was low. At the half, my partner asks me, in light of the whining and our low foul total if we were calling enough fouls. I told him to focus on the game and ignore the coaches. In the second half, the game continued much the same way and I think my partner did a good job of not anticipating fouls. Of course the play of this team deteriorated as players would commit stupid fouls on one end and then create contact on offense with defenders in legal position, expecting an even-up call. I thought we called the game fairly well although there was whining, but the fans know nothing about verticality, nor much else, so it was a lesson not to listen to fans/coaches during a game. As an aside, I spoke to the other team's coach once before I officiated his game, and he'd made a point, knowing I officiate HS ball, of asking rules questions, telling me he'd made a conscious effort to understand the rules in order to better coach his team. It was no coincidence that his team was able to play within the rules and the other squad wasn't. Finally, it never ceases to amaze me as a coach and an official to see how quickly a team's play goes down the gutter when the coach bails them out by berating the refs.

This is SOOOOO true.