First Fight and Ejection

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Without going into the gory details, after all this time, we had a fight in the first 1/2 of my game tonight. Happened right in front of my P and he ejected her. The other person didn't retaliate. Just one punch.

I feel horrible about it and although we called 29 fouls in the first half alone I can't help but feel we didn't do enough.

I was always told coming up, if there's a fight in your game, it's because you missed something.

I am really bothered by this and know I won't sleep well tonight.

For my own interest, not in any way to indict you or your crew regarding this issue, let me ask. As this was apparently brewing, how many if any off-ball fouls were called prior to the flare up, if you can estimate. Or were all or almost all the fouls on-ball fouls?

[ref3808]

Sometimes we see "chippy" play and we tighten up the game and we can keep things from escalating.

However sometimes things happen quickly and without warning and we're left to deal with the consequences.

We're officiating games for children, older ones perhaps, but still children with varying levels of emotional maturity and some with issues we never know about when we step on the floor. We can't always anticipate their actions.

While I can understand the reflection and the sleepless night I don't think you can blame yourself and I certainly don't believe what you were once told regarding that if there is a fight you missed something.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by ref3808

Sometimes we see "chippy" play and we tighten up the game and we can keep things from escalating.

However sometimes things happen quickly and without warning and we're left to deal with the consequences.

We're officiating games for children, older ones perhaps, but still children with varying levels of emotional maturity and some with issues we never know about when we step on the floor. We can't always anticipate their actions.

While I can understand the reflection and the sleepless night I don't think you can blame yourself and I certainly don't believe what you were once told regarding that if there is a fight you missed something.

Probably uttered by those who have not had a fight in their game...yet.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Freddy

For my own interest, not in any way to indict you or your crew regarding this issue, let me ask. As this was apparently brewing, how many if any off-ball fouls were called prior to the flare up, if you can estimate. Or were all or almost all the fouls on-ball fouls?

An interesting comment.

We had several off-ball fouls (mostly holds), several overly physical box-puts on rebounds, and two illegal screens I can recall. In hind sight, this is really a good area to analyze.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by grunewar

An interesting comment.

We had several off-ball fouls (mostly holds), several overly physical box-puts on rebounds, and two illegal screens I can recall. In hind sight, this is really a good area to analyze.

You might be on to something. In the games our crew has looked back on and the ones I've studied on tape, those that seem to get out of hand (and those that some officials like to complain about in the post game locker room over how rough the teams were - Grrr...) often got that way due to lack of off-ball surveillance early in the game and throughout. Off ball seems to be where the shenanigans often start which, if not checked by adequate preventative officiating or off-ball foul calls, leads to the roughness on-ball later.
Not that this directly applies to your game. Just a theory I've been working on that others might likely consider all too obvious.

On the other hand, our 51 foul hackfest a couple of weeks ago did not fit this mold. They just kept fouling and we just kept calling 'em. Off-ball surveillance was good.