Spectator interference at a critical point

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Actually, I read this to say that if the spectator interference creates a clear advantage for one team, you can make an assumption and issue the T. AR 15 says nothing about knowing who the spectator was supporting, and his action was in direct (even if unintentional) support of one team over another.

AR 14 that was also posted by Dan and that clarifies it a bit better imo. That one refers to penalizing a team's supporters. The NFHS rulesmakers also used pretty specific language in casebook play 2.8.1 too. That case play also refers to penalizing a team's followers or supporters. Any doubt, you don't penalize. The quote from that case play is "While the authority is there , the official must rarely use it, because experience has demonstrated that calling hasty technical fouls on the crowd rarely solves the problem and may, in fact, result in penalizing the wrong team because the official may not have proper knowledge as to which team's supporters were responsible for the unsporting act".

Iow, no assumptions in either NCAA or FED games. Gotta know for sure.