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I can't say I have ever heard a coach or a fan yell "Over the back" when there was no contact at all. The contact may not have been enough in the official's eyes to warrant a foul, but that doesn't mean that there was no contact at all. When they yell that, they are saying they disagree with the no-call on a particular play. They are using a clear shorthand for "That was a push on Number 33! Remember 'It is a form of pushing when the player holding the ball is contacted by a defensive player who approaches from behind.'" They are also saying they don't think it was incidental contact.
While I dropped the term "over the back" from my coaching (and howling) vocabulary quite a while ago, I have never met anybody who thinks it is a foul to reach over someone without touching them. Likewise, I don't know of any coach who thinks "reaching in" without contact is a foul. If there are such people, officials not using those terms during a game will not cure them of their ignorance. The terms are descriptive of actions that precipitated the foul, and most people are smart enough to realize that. Canuckrefguy's attempts to communicate with the coaches and fans improve game management, they don't perpetuate some strange idea that there can be personal fouls without contact.
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Mon Feb 17, 2003, 08:23am
Hybrid Mode
