On the subject of screw ups

[just another ref]

Many years ago, when I was young and ignorant, (now I am no longer young)
I called a lot of local elementary and jr. high ball before I had ever seen a rule book. One day, 8th grade boys, I called a foul on white #50, but incorrectly reported the # as 40. Next possession, same kid fouls again. Now the (wrong) # is fresh in my mind, so I report white 40 again, probably did not even attempt to look at the # that time. A few minutes later, I looked at the kid as he ran down the court, and the 50 smacked me full in the face. I blew the whistle, huddled with partner and both coaches, and explained my mistake. My partner, a registered official, even though he was several years younger than I, explained that this was not a correctable error since we had had several dead balls since then. This was fine with white's coach, since 50 was a much better player than 40. Years later when I had a chance to study this rule, I decided that I considered this to be a bookkeeping mistake, 2 fouls charged to the wrong player, even though this mistake was the result of bad information given by an official, not a mistake by the bookkeeper himself. Is this/has this ever been addressed here or in the books? I may have even posted it here myself, but I've slept since then, and well, you know........

[Nevadaref]

We've discussed it on this forum before. Most of us believe that it is a recordkeeping mistake and can be fixed with definite knowledge.

Someone will probably do a search and post one of the past threads for you.

[btaylor64]

Yes this is correctable at any time during the game. Don't know where it is in the book but trust me I know, when I first started I did it alot.

[Jurassic Referee]

NFHS rule 2-11-11