Legal question
Would an official have any potential legal liability if he allows a player to remain in the game in spite of that player having reached 5 fouls? For example after she should have been out of the game she then fouls an opponent hard and the opponent would get hurt.
Here's a long story as short as I can make it. 9th grade girls team only has 5 players. One girl is very big with no playing sense at all. She'll foul a shooter by just bringing her arms down on top of the shooter and as a result will just knock the shooter silly. Talking to her does no good. I called what I thought was the 5th foul on her but the scorer said 4. So I thought maybe I could be wrong. When I called the next one the scorer still told me 4. I knew I was right so I made her leave. (I didn't know but the coach and the scorer had agreed to try to keep her in the game.) Later I told the coach if we kept her in after getting 5 fouls and she knocked someone down and go their head cracked open then there could be legal issues involved. (This girl would be perfectly capable of it too) I try to be a common sense guy but am I right here or am I worrying too much? Thanks. |
Tell your scorer to knock it off. If he says one word at this point, he gets replaced. Sit her down. I can see potential issues, especially if she'd demonstrated rough play all game (purposeful or not).
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Coach - Well, we just tried... Judy - I'm speaking!!!! Gotta love her! |
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And yes, shame on the coach and scorer for contravening the purpose of ethics. :mad: I feel for the scorekeeper if s/he is a young person. They could have had their judgment questioned by a position of authority. |
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legal problems??
You are not worrying too much about liability. The law would require you to act as a reasonable person under the circumstances. Here is my cross of you in the lawsuit:
Mr. Official, you observed this player for 3 quarters, did you not? And how would you describe her ability? Did it seem to you that she was a bit out of control? I believe you used the phrase "knock them silly" in describing some of her previous fouls? So, in your experience, she was a player with less than average ability who presented a higher-than-average risk of injury to other players? And yet you allowed her to remain in the game after the rules said she should have been disqualified? Case over. You lose. |
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For what its worth -:rolleyes:
I once worked a rec league where players were allowed back into the game after 5 fouls (if there were no other players on the bench), but each additional foul also cost them a technical.:eek: |
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2. No, the rules do not require disqualifying players with less than average ability who present higher-than-average risk. Redirect: A. Did the scorekeeper inform you that this player had just 4 fouls when in fact she had 5? B. Did you have any reason to doubt the scorekeeper's information? C. Would any experienced official have done exactly as you did under the circumstances? Case over. You win. |
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