Or The Rest Room ???
 

Fans are often on the floor. How else are they going to get to the concession stand? In a Catholic middle school game, I once had an adult fan, in a very crowded gymnasium, walk onto the court (with a hot dog in his hand) and get in the way of an errant pass that was on it's way out of bounds and ended up staying in play.

In fifteen years, I've never had a fan on the floor actively trying to interfere with play.

As I have stated before I am a very firm believer in NOT charging fans with TFs. No good can come from it 99.999,999,999% of the time.

There are some leagues in that State up North (Sorry StripedYooper but GO BUCKEYES!!) where the boys' and girls' JV teams of schools A and B play at the same school on one night and the VAR teams play at the same school the next night like one Class C and D league did in the LP a couple years ago and the same crew of officials will officiate both games on a given night. This is the only reason that I can assume for the game officials knewing that the fan was a member of the VAR team, meanng that he could have been in his warm-ups because the boys' game was the second game of the evening. And I am only presuming here but this type of conduct does make for a dicey situatioin for the game officials.

I have officiated for 44 years and luckily I have never been in a situatioin where one would even make the suggestion that a team's fan should be charged with a TF. The MAC for a number of years had a problems with some of its member colleges whose fans would throw rolls of toilet paper onto the floor the first time its team would score and the league mandated that the team be charged with a TF. That ended that nonsense very quickly..

Alright, I have added my two cents to the situation.

MTD, Sr.

Billy:

I would have asked the fan where the hot dogs and Cokes for my partner and myself were, :p?

MTD, Sr.

In 8 years, I hadn't either, until my last game of this season. I had the exact situation as the OP during a MS championship game. During a free throw by V1, two home students came out of the stands, under the basket about 5 feet off the base line, jumping around and waving their arms. The stands were another 5 feet behind them. By the time it was noticed, the shot was on its way. When the free throw was missed, we allowed the free thrower to re-shoot. Administration took care of it immediately.

Our decision may not be specifically supported by rule, but I am comfortable that we handled it appropriately. I would no call this before calling a T. I could not feel right about penalizing the players for a knucklehead student's actions. Now, if it happens a 2nd time...

I Wish I Were An Oscar Mayer Weiner ...
 

In my situation, the fan was not actively trying to interfere with play, he was actively trying to get back to his seat, and eat his hot dog. There's not a lot of space between the sideline boundary, and the bleachers, in some middle school gymnasiums, especially with cheerleaders on the sidelines.

You Deserve A Break Today ...
 

True story. Girls varsity game at a small rural school, with a great concession stand. Middle of second period, girl falls, and hurts her elbow (turned out to be dislocated). She's screaming in pain. We send both teams to their benches, and the trainer calls an ambulance. This school being way out in the sticks, it took the ambulance about fifteen minutes to get there. Both teams are on their benches, my partner, and I, are on the visitor's bench, and the girl is still on the court, screaming in pain. The EMT's finally get the girl loaded up onto a gurney, and my partner is nowhere to be found. Finally, he comes wandering back from the concession stand, with a hot dog in his hand.

Our MS CYO rules specifically permit awarding new FTs for spectator behavior during a FT. My son' steam benefitted from a call in the playoffs with 10 seconds left down by 2 ....

I would suggest never utilizing the "tech a fan" rule on an individual fan. How could you know he was actually a fan of that team versus just dressing in their colors? Unlikely I know but I believe that rule is meant for more obvious acts like throwing TP on the court. Eject the fan and reissue the FT if missed.