Intentional Fouls

[Oz Referee]

The main thing I am hearing here is that just because a fouls is designed to stop the clock - it shouldn't be called an intentional (although the rules say otherwise).

Here is the exact wording of the Unsportsmanlike rule (FIBA):

Art. 46 Unsportsmanlike foul
46.1 Definition
46.1.1 An unsportsmanlike foul is a personal foul committed by a player which, in the judgement of the official, is not a legitimate attempt to directly play the ball within the spirit and intent of the rules.
46.1.2 Unsportsmanlike fouls must be interpreted consistently throughout the whole game.
46.1.3 The official must judge only the action.
46.1.4 To judge whether a foul is unsportsmanlike, the officials should apply the following principles:
• If a player is making no effort to play the ball and contact occurs, it is an unsportsmanlike foul.
• If a player, in an effort to play the ball, causes excessive contact (hard foul), then the contact shall be judged to be unsportsmanlike.
• If a player holds, hits, kicks or deliberately pushes an opposing player, it is an unsportsmanlike foul.
• If a player commits a foul whilst making a legitimate effort to play the ball (normal basketball play), it is not an unsportsmanlike foul.
46.1.5 A player who repeatedly commits unsportsmanlike fouls must be disqualified.
(Emphasis added)

You can see that this makes no mention of fouling to stop the clock, and actually emphasises that these fouls must be called consistently throught the game.

Now I have found this quite difficult to adjust to after calling obvious clock stopping fouls at the end of the game as "intentional". But I do believe it is better for the game.

As an aside, this change of rules makes it almost impossible to penalise a coach/team when the coach is screaming "Foul,foul,foul" in the dying part of the game - although you can still call a Tech foul on the coach for unsportsmanlike conduct (actively encouraging his/her players to break the rules).

Could this be one of the few occasions where you non-FIBA referees may actually prefer the FIBA rule? What is the process for getting rules in NFHS changed, and would you like to see this rule changed?