Official interference

[buckrog64]

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.

[tjones1]

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.

[M&M Guy]

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.

[Rusty Gilbert]

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.

[tjones1]

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.

[JugglingReferee]

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.

[johnSandlin]

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.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

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 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.