Lack of Flagrant Signal
 

A response on another post got me thinking (which in and of itself can be a dangerous thing.) Why isn't there a specific FED signal for a flagrant foul?

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.
Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744), An essay on Criticism

So you see, it's only a little that's dangerous. Drink deep, and you're fine.

Who understands the convoluted ruminations of the FED rules committee? I would guess that a specific signal for a flagrant foul would often be gasoline on a little flame, and would be counterproductive to the goal of an official keeping a game situation under control. At least, in situations I've seen where there was a flagrant foul, I would think a signal (especially if an emotional ref was trying to "sell" it!) could have been quite inflammatory. Quietly informing people that the act was flagrant is going to be tough enough.

I thought the signal for a flagrant foul was to pinch your nose with two fingers. Oh, wait. That's the signal for a fragrant foul. Sorry.

Or a foul frangrance.

Ask a chinese official how he verbalizes flagrant. :eek:

(See the Ilene/Irene joke in the General Forum.) :D

I'd rather see a tripping signal or a hit to the head signal added before a flagrant foul. I've called lots more of them than I have flagrants. Their absence is more sorely felt.

I have thought about what Juulie said. Perhaps a little discression is the better way. So we go to the table, signal the foul, have a brief chat with his coach and the player sits the rest of the game. Nobody has to know exactly why.

But I think I'd rather err on the side of game control. If the player did something worthy of being tossed, I want everybody in the game to know he's gone. A foul that serious that doesn't appear to receive an equally serious response, may invite retaliation or escalation. And that's a more immediate concern than little Jonny's fragile feelings.