Official interference
 

Was watching a varsity boys game the other night when a steal in the front court took place and the center official of a three man crew found himself on the receiving end of a direct bump from the player who stole the ball. He simply was in the way and the contact caused the loss of the ball. The ref immediately blew the play dead and gave the ball to the team who stole it. He patted himself on the chest as if to say, 'my fault,' and no one really got too uptight about it. Question is, did he do the right thing, by the book? or is an official simply a part of the floor and each team takes his chances? I would guess he was 3-5 feet from the sideline when this happened.

Sounds like a play on. Tough break for the team who stole the ball away, it's the other team's ball as the ball went OOB by them.

Tanner - I got the impression the official was in-bounds by 3 - 5 ft. If that's the case, it wouldn't be an OOB violation.

As far as the rules are concerned, the official is part of the floor. (I've seen some that are more attached to the floor than others, but that's another story.) By rule, he shouldn't have stopped play. I understand the "my bad" reaction, and I've felt the same way when it's happened to me. But I also let the play continue, then went over and apologized to the coach for not getting my slow a$$ out of the way.

We don't have any recourse to make it "right." Recently I had an errant pass hit me in the chest and bounce back toward the lane. I looked down, noted both of my feet were inbounds, so "play on." I obviously kept the ball from going out of bounds, but since I was not OOB, then the ball never went OOB.

Play on.

Jim,

I took it as the player ran into the official (inbounds) and then it caused him to lose control of the ball in which it then went OOB.

As much as I dislike this ruling, there is nothing the crew can do.

However, the official did screw up and allow himself to become an unnecessary part of the game.

I had this exact play happen to me in my game last Friday night. I was the official who got in the way of a steal, and caused the ball handler to have to reroute his path going the other way.

The defender who had the ball stolen from him lost out the most. He pretty much had to come to a stop to avoid running into me.

It was completely my fault, no question about it. But rule wise, there was nothing I could do either as I was inbounds to far, and part of the floor.

I don't buy this.

The official is a necessary part of the game. Sometimes good positioning means you're at risk to get in the way. If you occasionally gets in the way of play then that's life.

It it happens more often then you should consider what needs to be done to fix it.

clarification: the entire scenario took place in bounds. The ref was 3-5 feet inbounds from the sideline, the contact took place there, near mid-court...everyone and everything stayed in bounds, the ref simply blew the whistle and the play dead because of the player running into him.

He drew more hoots from the fans of course, than the players or the coaches. They know stuff like that is going to happen once in awhile.

I personally hug the sideline for the most part, because i don't want to get into the way. I would imagine, however, that most people in the gym expected that the play would be blown dead and that it would transpire as it did when in actuality, the game should not have been allowed to stop.

As far as I can see, technically the play should not be stopped, but I applaud his handling of the situation by blaming himself for the incident. I am sure that this has happened to countless officials including myself and this is a reaction call, inadvertant whistle, whatever and is part of the learning process. I am sure that in his next game that he would stand clear well off the players. Cheers- Nick

While all of us agree that according to the rules play should not have been stopped, but once this official blew his whistle and it was, he correctly applied the POI rule for an accidental whistle. :)

If you hug the sidelines when working 2-person where responsibilities take you all the way across the court (or even 3-person, where you have 60% of the floor) you're not doing a very good job of working the trail position.

I get in the way once or twice a year and usually it's on a quick steal. Shrug.

Nick,

Let me get this right you are applauding him for doing the wrong thing and and giving the ball to the wrong team? Great!

Sorry for the misunderstanding buck. So, yes we all agree it shouldn't have been blown dead. Therefore, an inadvertant whistle means POI (as Nevada said). <table><tr><td bgcolor="black"><s>and since there's no control we've got an AP.</s></td></tr></table>

And what happens when the same thing happens in a game next week and the official doesn;t do the same thing as this bozo did? :eek:

Are you trying to tell us that there's no team control in this play? :confused: