Crash…no whistle

[BayStateRef]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

One cannot just assume that because "bodies" are on the court that a foul has occurred and that somebody MUST put air in his/her whistle. This has been an idiotic philosophy that some college and H.S. assigners have promoted for years; and it panders to coaches who think that because players are on the floor there must have been a foul.

Unfortunately, the guiding principal here is not the rule book, but what you call that idiotic philosophy. Those assignors decide who works for them and if you don't adhere to their view, you won't be working any games.

I had a play at a college tryout camp a few years ago. The ball is knocked away from the dribbler in the front court near the top of the key, when B2 and A2, from equally advantageous positions, dive for the ball and make severe contact -- so much that one player has to leave the game with a concussion.

From the C, I saw the whole play and make no call because neither player did anything illegal. As the trainers are attending to the injuries, the clinician asked why I passed on the foul and I told him. He said that he thought I was too close to the play and that the trail needed to "get the call" from across the court.

The trail asked who should the foul be on, since he saw the play the same way I did. The clinician asked if we knew the foul count. Yes, it was 6-3. Then call it on the team with three fouls, he said. Another clinician made the same point: there HAD to be a foul call on a play where a player suffers a concussion because of an injury with an opposing player. No call was not acceptable. He did not care on which team the foul was called.