A bit of a mess at an Indiana HS game

Originally Posted by JRutledge

If you instigated, you instigated, it does not matter what your intentions were in the rule.

By that logic you could consider an seemingly innocuous action to be "instigation" if a player reacts to it and punches someone.

According to the dictionary, instigation means "to cause to come about". Did the action by W43 "cause to come about" the punch by G2? Yes.

However, 4-18-2 specifies "An attempt to instigate a fight". Was the action by W43 "an attempt to instigate a fight"? No.

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

That's a rule book term with which I am unfamiliar.

It depends on how you define "instigation". See above.