Letting it get out of control

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

But in whose eyes is that advantage gained?

The player will invariably feel that the contact affected the play and put him/her at a disadvantage. The official...not so much so.

One side is naturally biased; the other side can't afford to be biased.

That's the flaw in your reasoning imo.

Exactly. How many times do we see a player try to squeeze through two defenders, there's contact, and the player and coach wonder why there's no foul? There's contact and *they* feel it affected the play, but the reality is that both defenders are legal and there simply wasn't space to go through. And we have either nothing or a traveling violation as a result.

I'm not much impressed with the impassioned cries of "the game's too physical" and "the officials don't call enough" -- because of all the gnashing of teeth done about this, it's only ever on fouls not called against the other team. Or it's by mediots who are paid to stir up trouble.