Wadda you got?

[blindzebra]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee

It does say arms JR. Last I checked the elbow is part of the arm. The intent of the rule for swinging is to avoid a kid taking one in the chops by a kid creating space by moving their elbows and not their body.

[/B]

Then why would the FED specifically separate the two- arms and elbows- in the rules if they actually meant for them to be treated the same? The language in rule 9-13 says "A player shall not excessively swing his/her arms OR elbows". The key word is "or". The intent of the "player-control", "flagrant" and "intentional" personal foul definitions are to give us alternatives to a violation when contact is actually made with the elbow. To call that contact a "fight" is just a complete stretch, imo, and I don't think that that is what the fighting rules were intended for. You are right, though, in that the language is hazy, and could possibly be interpreted in different ways. I'd just hate to see anyone call a missed elbow a "fight", even though R4-18-1 says that contact does not necessarily have to be made for a "fight" to happen. [/B][/QUOTE]

Try this play:

B1 grabs A1 from behind, foul. A1 says," Get off me!" and throws his elbow back and up at B1's head, but misses. Is that not fighting under the definition of attempting to strike an opponent? For me I can't see how that is different than A1 throwing a punch.