Hands on Face!!

[Loudwhistle]

Saw this while spectating at a GV game. H1 is about to throw the ball in to start the second quarter. THe official hasn't handed her the ball yet but its just about to happen. V1 is trying to guard H2 who is most likely going to get the ball passed to her. Here's the weird part: V1 is facing H2 with her hands up trying to make it difficult for H2 to recieve the pass from H1, but H2 puts her hands on V1's face! V1 pushes her hands away and the throwin is legally passed in to another player. I saw this same player do this twice during the game. Had I been the reff, I would have told her to knock it off the first time and the next time, I guess I would call a T for unsportsmanship like conduct. Any other ideas? A T seems sort of harsh but what else can you call during a dead ball?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Loudwhistle

Saw this while spectating at a GV game. H1 is about to throw the ball in to start the second quarter. THe official hasn't handed her the ball yet but its just about to happen. V1 is trying to guard H2 who is most likely going to get the ball passed to her. Here's the weird part: V1 is facing H2 with her hands up trying to make it difficult for H2 to recieve the pass from H1, but H2 puts her hands on V1's face! V1 pushes her hands away and the throwin is legally passed in to another player. I saw this same player do this twice during the game. Had I been the reff, I would have told her to knock it off the first time and the next time, I guess I would call a T for unsportsmanship like conduct. Any other ideas? A T seems sort of harsh but what else can you call during a dead ball?

Just because the contact isn't severe, doesn't mean that it isn't illegal or intentional.

The correct call would be a technical foul for intentional contact during a dead ball. Note that by rule unsporting Ts are for non-contact.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by Loudwhistle

Saw this while spectating at a GV game. H1 is about to throw the ball in to start the second quarter. THe official hasn't handed her the ball yet but its just about to happen. V1 is trying to guard H2 who is most likely going to get the ball passed to her. Here's the weird part: V1 is facing H2 with her hands up trying to make it difficult for H2 to recieve the pass from H1, but H2 puts her hands on V1's face! V1 pushes her hands away and the throwin is legally passed in to another player. I saw this same player do this twice during the game. Had I been the reff, I would have told her to knock it off the first time and the next time, I guess I would call a T for unsportsmanship like conduct. Any other ideas? A T seems sort of harsh but what else can you call during a dead ball?

Question 1: Did the officials tell the player to "knock it off" prior to the throw-in?

I agree with you that I am going to tell the player to "knock it off" as soon as I see it happen. This particular action is specifically covered under 10-3-6d which states:
Section 3 PLAYER TECHNICAL
...
ART. 6 . . . Commit an unsporting foul. This includes, but is not limited to, acts or conduct such as:
...
d. Purposely obstructing an opponent' vision by waving or placing hand(s) near his/her eyes.
NOTE: Purposely diverting an opponent' attention by waving is different than
holding or waving the hands near the opponent' eyes for the express purpose of obstructing the vision so that he/she cannot see.

I cannot imagine that a player would ignore such a warning given BEFORE you bounce the ball to the inbounder. But, if the player ignores the warning, the rule is there for you to enforce. I have never personally called this in my career nor I have I seen it called in any game I have witnessed.

[Nevadaref]

I don't believe that 10-3-6d covers it because that is for obstructing vision by putting the hands near the eyes WITHOUT PHYSICAL CONTACT. The OP wrote that the hands were place ON the opponent's face. If he meant what he wrote, then the proper rule citation would be 10-3-7, but if he wasn't precise in his choice of words, then your cite would be right on.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

I don't believe that 10-3-6d covers it because that is for obstructing vision by putting the hands near the eyes WITHOUT PHYSICAL CONTACT. The OP wrote that the hands were place ON the opponent's face. If he meant what he wrote, then the proper rule citation would be 10-3-7, but if he wasn't precise in his choice of words, then your cite would be right on.

I'd say that that hands on the face are probably near the eyes an are likely obstructing to the vision. But either way, a T is due.

[tjones1]

As Nevada said, I've got an intentional technical foul.