How do you handle a fight?
 

This weekend I had a new situation. We had a hard foul going to the hoop on a fast break. My partner as lead calls the foul. Both players end up on the floor. My partner closes to the two players and is right with them telling them to stay cool and he had the foul. All of the players on the floor are coming towards the two on the floor so I continue into the crowd to keep things calm. One of the teammates on the defensive team then loses it and is trying to get at any defender he can. I get between him and push him back to the wall. He tries a couple of times to get around me to get at the other players. We assess the first foul and a flagrant personal to the player trying to fight and eject him. (FIBA rules, because there was contact even during a dead ball this is a personal foul)

My question comes after the feedback from our supervisor of officials who emailed me back after the incident report. He says that we don't get involved. I should not have pushed the one player out of the mess. How would you handle something like this?

I have heard this also but it is very hard not too when it is players involved on the court. If it is spectators I wouldnt even think about it unless they were going against a player or partner.

You should take your supervisor statement into consideration.. Why subject yourself to a possible lawsuit? Get the coacher and other players involved... step away and observed and tweet the whistle..

You Can See, But You Can't Touch ...
 

Take numbers.

I agree with your supervisor. Just take numbers and observe the situation. You are out numbered and it will sort itself out.

-Josh

Don't touch the players. Period.

In your situation, simply getting between the player and the others and yelling at him to try to disrupt his concentration is about all you should do. But to put your hands on a player and push him/her around is not a good idea.

Was calling with a guy one night and he told of a story he was involved in about 2 years prior.

He was calling in a 3 man crew and was in the Trail position. He see's a spectator moving towards the Lead. Next thing he knows the spectator takes a swing and in an instant is lying face down on the court. The Lead was a full time SWAT team member and prior FBI Agent who from what it seems really carries a punch.

Just thought I would share.

Right. With only two officials and one of them already near the fight, the other one must stay away to see what's happening. There are two benches to look at and ten players on the court; the risk of not seeing the main facts is high even if one stays away from the fight, it becomes certainty if nobody looks.

Ciao

My partner and I had a bench clearing fight on our hands this past weekend at a tournament.

In retrospect, we should have backed off and took numbers. We both missed the number of the player who threw a punch as well as others that were in the middle of the scrum. We did eject the two primary troublemakers, but didn't have the perspective to get any other offenders.

On the plus side, noone (including ourselves) were hurt and the 2nd half (amazingly) was extremely competitive and well behaved.

True in any sport. Back off and catch everything. Don't become part of the melee.

There are too many things that can go wrong if you get in the middle and try to stop it. If you're in the middle, just blow your whistle repeatedly and loudly.

What exactly is running around blowing your whistle supposed to do besides make you look dumb? Noone gives flip about your whistle if they're duking it out. A couple of quick tweets see if anyone cares is plenty. Grab some popcorn and watch the show...

Would this be standard protocol for a Friday night varsity game, as well?

Who said anything about running around? I'm talking about when you're right next to the potential fighters. The whistle might be enough to catch their attention; and I don't give a rat's a$$ if I look dumb.

As long as you don't make your partner look dumb, too.

http://www.quicksprout.com/images/dumbdumber.jpg