Kick Catch Interference

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by kdf5

If R caught the ball then there's no KCI.

7-5-6...While any free kick is in flight in or beyond the neutral zone to the receiver’s goal line or any scrimmage kick is in flight beyond the neutral zone to the receiver’s goal line, K shall not:
a. Touch the ball or R, unless blocked into the ball or R, or to ward off a blocker;
or
b. Obstruct R’s path to the ball.
This prohibition applies even when no fair-catch signal is given, but it does not
apply after a free kick has been touched by a receiver, or after a scrimmage kick has been touched by a receiver who was clearly beyond the neutral zone at the time of touching.

Hoping to avoid another "grammer" discussion, I'd rather focus on applying the rule to the game it was designed for. Considering the human limitations of eyesight, actually determining the precise moment "touching" becomes "catching" any sort of Kicked ball, in relation to the instant a receiver is contacted seems just a bit preposterous for general purposes.

I would submit that the mention of FC protection NOT applying after a Kick (Free or Scrimmage) has been touched (NF:6-5-6) is included to cover situations as described in Case Book 6.5.6.E, where a player touches a kick in flight, but does not instantly continue completing the catch (muffed, bobbled, batted, tipped, etc).

When any of that occurs, and the catch is subsequently completed, it is a FC, but during the interval between R's touching and the subsequent completion of the catch (following the muff, bobble, bat or tip), both K and R have equal access to the loose ball , so there is no additional (FC) protection afforded to R.

The only "true simultaneous" existing under NFHS rules is a "simultaneous catch" (NF: 2-4-3). Just about everything else is based on "either/or" logic. FC aside, contact by K either happened before R was able to complete the catch, or it happened after the catch.

Once again, that's a judgment call and "one size will never fit all".