"Catchability"?
 

So I just got the Redding study guide (NFHS) the other night and came to a part where I have a question...

Chapter 5: The Passing Game. Pass Interference (page 43).

It says "Contact by a defender obviously away from the direction of the pass is not pass interference (7-5-11c)".

Then on the next play, it says " 'Catchability' of a pass is not a factor for pass interference."

This seems contradictory to me...or at least there could be a gray area where you have to make a judgement call.

If a pass goes towards A1 and B1 interferes then it is interference no matter if the pass is catchable or not. If B2 interferes with A2 on the opposite side of the field and it's obvious the pass wasn't thrown towards A2 then it's not interference.

In addition, I think the interpreation is to keep from having such a huge impact on penalty like DPI (15 yds and auto 1st) on somehting completely away from the pass. PI by definition is interfereing with a players attempt to move towards or catch a pass (not a direct quote). Therefore PI doesn't fit that definition if action in question is away from the pass.
However, you can still have a hold or other illegal contact away from the pass.

clarification
 

I guess what I meant was....I realize that if the receiver is twenty yards away from the pass, you probably wouldn't call it. And if he's five yards from the pass, you might call it. But what about if he's 15? 10? 7? At some point you have to make a judgement on whether or not it had an effect on the play, right? Is there a rule-of-thumb for that?

From what I've seen & heard about when it is/isn't appropriate to call pass interference, if the pass is thrown in the general direction of the contact (e.g., left, middle, right) it is pass interference even if the pass is substantially under-/over-thrown. However, if contact is on a WR doing a fly pattern near L's sideline & the pass is thrown to the flat on LJ's side, pass interference isn't appropriate.

On an overthrown pass, it's hard to say. If the pass is beyond the receiver when the contact occurs (but the ball hasn't hit the ground yet), it usually doesn't warrant a call. However, if an overthrown pass is obviously not going to be caught (e.g., a line-drive pass but 3 yards above everyone or a pop-fly pass with a trajectory to go well beyond) but the contact occurs before the ball clearly passes the receiver, this usually warrants a flag.

Also, know that in these situations, you'll hear from one sideline or the other because both all pass interference calls & the judgment involved usually elicit more chatter and because our rules differ from the NFL & NCAA in determining catchability.

Not only that, but, having started with the same rule on pass interference that all 3 of these codes had, Fed seems to want to have no such thing as a catchability philosophy, just by the wording of the rules. When NFL & NCAA adopted an explicity catchability provision, I took that as a mere clarif'n, not a substantive change, because it was always implicit that if a pass couldn't be caught anyway, then contact or faceguarding didn't actually interfere with an opponent's ability to catch the ball. However, Fed's adopting language regarding the ability of a potential receiver to move toward the ball or its path would seem to mean that, yes, they would want a flag thrown 50 yards away because it interferes with the player's ability to move to within 40 yards of the ball's flight!

Canadian football has a target/non-target area differential penalty, the point of which is...what? So that if the pass is caught, a player remote from it is not interfered with during the interval it's in the air so that he's that much closer to being able to throw a block, make a tackle, or receive a lateral pass as the play continues? Or does that rule still apply only to illegal use of the hands in a non-target area? (The USAn rules got broadened in recent decades.)

You have to know the rules, not just quote one random sentence and try to use it to make a point. About 3 lines after what you quoted it says...

ART. 11 . . . It is not forward-pass interference if:
c. Contact by B is obviously away from the direction of the pass.