Cell phone flash "photography"
 

Game last night in a school with a set of bleachers that seems to rise from the side of the court all the way up to the heavens. I'm guessing the student section was easily 100 strong, all of 'em seeming to have cell phones.

My issue is this: when the opposing team was shooting free throws (and perhaps during live action...I wasn't noticing it too much then), all/most of the student section turned the flash on on their cell phones and waved them around; I'm assuming with the intent to distract the shooter.

No one complained, coach or players, but if they HAD, do you have anything here? Is this an address the coach situation or an address the site admin situation? Or maybe it's a situation that falls under the "flash photography" clause? I figure if I had seen a laser or laser pointer I would have addressed it immediately, but I didn't (personally) think a (bunch of) tiny lights on the back of a cell phone warranted any type of attention on our behalf.

Would it matter if we had been in an arena with seating directly behind the baskets?

If it's just cell phones/camera flashes, there's nothing for us to worry about.

Laser pointers, on the other hand, would require immediate intervention by game management.

The difference is that the later can cause permanent damage to someone's eyes, the former cannot.

I think not dealing with it was the correct approach.

However, this is something I could see becoming a fad, and if enough coaches around the country voice concern, you might see iPhone flashlights getting grouped right up there with artificial noisemakers in the NFHS rules, i.e. not permitted. That would be something for the rules committee to take up.

I had that in a game with a student fan using the Iphone flashlight. I don't think the player was distracted at all but a potential concern.

Don't believe the hype. The only way a laser pointer is going to damage anyone's eyes is if you hold them down and point the laser directly into the eye for SEVERAL MINUTES. While I agree they need to be dealt with by game management, a kid in the crowd isn't going to permanently damage someone's eyes while using it to distract them during a game.

Unless the phone flashes constitute a safety issue, which I don't believe they do, this is not covered in the rules and falls under the site admin or any applicable league or state regulations.

Ok, fair enough on the eye damage, but is it safe to say you'd still intervene, or are you trying to say that this is a game management issue that we would not stop the game for?