First Flagrant--Illinois guys help
 

Had a boy's JV game this morning.

I'm L in the 3rd quarter, Team A has the ball out on top. There's action in the lane that I'm watching, when I hear my partner hit his whistle. He's got a fist up for a foul. I could tell there was something amiss because the crowd reacted with ooh's and ahh's. My partner walks toward the table, and Coach A is pleading for a flagrant foul.

My partner calls me over to get my opinion, and since I didn't see the play in question, I had no opinion on the play. I asked him what he saw, and he said B1 moved his closed fist towards A1's face while A1 wasn't looking and made contact. I know it sounds like a punch, but since I didn't see the play, and my partner never once used the word punch, I won't call it a punch.

I told him that this was his call, and based on what he described I had no problem with a flagrant foul. I would have had no problem with an intentional foul either, but my partner thought it was flagrant, so that's what we went with.

I've called the assignor, even though I wasn't the one who called a foul. My partner was heading over to some more games right after, so I thought I should call ASAP.

This is the first time I've had a DQ over anything but 5 personal fouls. I know there's some sort of special report that needs to be filled out, which is where I'm asking for help from the Illinois guys. Do I need to do it (I was the R on the game), or does my partner?

Any IHSA game that comes with an ejection has to have a Special Report filed within 24 hours of the contest. This should only be done by the calling official as they know why they called the foul or ejected player or coach. The R has nothing to do with this at all if they did not call the foul. You did the right thing by informing the assignor as that is protocol with most assignors that I am aware of throughout the state, but nothing to do with the IHSA directly. You can find the report on your IHSA personal webpage and you just click on the link on the left hand side and fill out the report. Then give out the facts and do not editorialize the events about what you think. Just state what happened and the rules that applied.

Of course this is not your responsibility on this situation, just wanted you to know what to do. And if they used language that led to the ejection, that should be included to. Do not say they "cursed" or used foul language. Say exactly what they said. So if they called a player "You stupid M@###ther F%##@er" than use that exact language. For all you know is this was one of multiple incidents and the IHSA will deal with it accordingly. Also, the IHSA will never tell you directly what they did with the report, so do not expect a response. This information is between the IHSA and the school to solve the problem for future reference.

Peace

Thanks Jeff. I'll call my partner to make sure he knows all this because he wasn't exactly sure what to do either.