Fans on sideline is touched with ball
 

:confused: Help with this. Has not happened yet, but will in the future.
Fan walking up sideline in small gym. Half on the court and half off. A1 dribbling the ball up the court. Ball hits fan that is touching 1/2 on & off the playable court. Is ball OOB? And if yes, then does B get the ball? I don't have my book today, please give ruling number. Thanks

The ball is OOB as per rule 7-1-2(b). It sounds like the the fan interfered with play. If so, give team A the ball back for a throw-in. Use case book play 7.1.2SitB(a) as a guideline. Almost the same situation.

Don't forget to toss the fan.

This was a hypothetical situation, not a real one. I'm surprised you assumed the fan deliberately interfered with no evidence other than walking half on and off court. I've been in gyms where it's almost impossible to get back to your seat without walking along the sideline.

7-1-2(b) just says the ball is OOB, presumably off of A1 who was dribbling. A1 should watch where he/she is dribbling.

I've reffed in gyms where there was only room for fans to stand/sit 1 deep against the wall, and could conceivably see this very thing happening. Personally, I'm letting play continue, and if the ball hitting the fan causes interference with the play, I'm giving it back to team A.

What? A fan touches the ball and you have a "play on?" Come on...are you really serious?

I once actually had an assistant coach intentionally reach out & interfere with the ball as opponent's player was dribbling it up the sideline in front of the bench - earned himself a flagrant T for that one.

7-1-2 . . . The ball is out of bounds when it touches or is touched by:
a. A player who is out of bounds.
b. Any other person, the floor, or any object on or outside a boundary.

I agree with JR. Whether the fan interference is deliberate or not doesn't matter. The fact that the fan is partially in the court does. The fan shouldn't be there, but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. Therefore, instead of a strict enforcement of 7-1-2, which was not intended to cover this situation, use 2-3 to stop play and give Team A a throw-in.

Now if the fan were completely OOB, then I would simply follow 7-1-2.

In the gym's I'm talking about, I'm totally serious. And the OP didn't say that the fan touched the ball, it said the ball hit the fan.

Are you saying that you would give team B the ball?

I was working a freshman boys game once. You just knew the V coach had a talk with his kids about playing on the road, ignoring the a-hole fans, etc. They hardly said a peep all night. The home team, and their fans, were entirely opposite. In the middle of the contest, while V had the ball in the frontcourt, a couple of kids ran out onto the court about five feet from the sideline, right in the middle of the play. I had my back to them and didn't see where they came from, otherwise, I would have whacked the home team for a T. I was 99% sure they were home fans, but noe 100%. I did visit with the coach and game mgt, but they were both basically worthless in terms of helping.

I'm going to have to review the case book citation you mentioned. But that was my interpretation of the rule. A1 caused the ball to go out of bounds. Sort of like Jeffrey Meyers. Home run or fan interference?

Does it matter?

7-1-2 . . . The ball is out of bounds when it touches or is touched by:

Why would you whack the home team in this situation? If I saw them I would have them removed and then continue the game.

You apparently have the pleasure of only working in gymes with 84-94 ft floors and wide sidelines.