Uncle Ernie is at it again

[Bob Floyd]

In my earlier post I quoted from Rule 9,Sec 3,Art 5b. I intentionally omitted the wording which was not pertinent to the play. When you read the whole rule you see there are 3 distinct situations which are exceptions to the clip or block in the back:
1. warding off a blocker, or
2. when attempting to reach a runner, or
3. catch or recover a loose ball which he may legally
touch or possess
The key word is "or" meaning all three situations require the contact to be above the waist.
I do agree if the ball is loose on the ground and in an attempt to recover a player diving for the ball contacts an opponent low I would not flag this but the way the play was worded it appeared to me that there was an intentional use of the hands low to push the opponent away.