Handchecking?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

This discussion has led me to an interesting question - how much weight should "old" POEs be given? They have some "rule of law" in that they are interpretations of the Rules by the NFHS with guidance to how they want those rules applied. But when they are taken out, do we assume they no longer want those rules applied that way, or that the NFHS has simply determined that the area of concern has been appropriately addressed by officials but that we still need to apply those POEs until we hear differently?

This "two-hands automatic foul" POE is a great example of this ambiguity - the rules have been reworded since then, but not necessarily changed, so should we still look at it as official interpretation, or has something come out to override that?

POE's are basically just explanations of existing rules that the FED feels are being called incorrectly. They are issued to give direction to officials, to avoid confusion and to gain unanimity of interpretation. POE's are valid as long as the rules don't change, or the FED decides that they issued a wrong interpretation.

One example is whether disconcertion can be called on the defensive bench. You won't find a definitive answer in the rules/case book, but it was covered in an POE(the answer is "yes", if anyone wasn't sure).

Another example came up on the calling of intentional fouls. The FED issued a POE years ago saying that it was an automatic intentional foul if the head coach said "foul him" and a player did so. A couple of years later, the FED issued another POE saying that POE was wrong, fuggedaboutit and just officiate the act.

The interpretations that the FED posts on their web site every year are similar to POE's. Some of those never make it into the case book, but they are still valid unless the rules change or a different interpretation is issued.

Personally, I find old POE's very helpful. They answer questions and give direction. l have no reason to believe that they are no longer valid unless the FED has issued something to the contrary.