ASA - illegal re-entry

[Dakota]

ASA rule 4-7 changed for 2002 to allow substitutes to re-enter one time, the same as starters.

In the thread titled "must forfeit" the situation is presented where a coach may try to reenter a substitute for an injured player and, if allowed, this substitute would bat in a different position in the order than her earlier entry.

Of course, this is illegal.

The ASA rule 4-7 strongly implies that the onus is on the defense to discover this illegal player for there to be any penalty associated with it, similar to BOO.

In the case presented, with a forfeit on the line, would you allow the reentry and leave it up to the defense to protest, or would you inform the coach that he cannot make that substitution and thereby enforce the penalty yourself?

If you would not allow the reentry in this case, would you do anything differently if a forfeit was not at issue?

[oppool]

IMO I would not allow it if I knew it was a Illegal entry that should cause the game to be forfeited. I beleive this would fall under our preventive umpiring and I would not want something to happen to a player or myself that might get to be a mess if someone got injured playing in a game that I knew should of not continue. I am also not sure our insurance through ASA would cover us in this situation at least not with a lot of lawyers having to be involved which I dont need.

If it is a situation that didnt cause the game to be forfeited. Then I believe I would still use the preventive umpiring and talk to the coach that is trying to bring in a illegal sub situation which I believe could be protested by the other coach. Which is different than BOO which is corrected and played on


Just my thoughts

Don

[Steve M]

In any championship play, I'm not going to allow the coach to re-enter a sub improperly. Preventing that is one of the reasons that I've got a lineup card. For league play, I am likely to allow the 2 head coaches to decide what they want to do - unless one of the coches is a jerk. And, this will be OK with our ASA insurance.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Steve M
In any championship play, I'm not going to allow the coach to re-enter a sub improperly. Preventing that is one of the reasons that I've got a lineup card. For league play, I am likely to allow the 2 head coaches to decide what they want to do - unless one of the coches is a jerk. And, this will be OK with our ASA insurance.

Two words: PREVENTIVE UMPIRING

This is not a case of an umpire coaching a team, but not allowing the coach to operate outside of the rules.

Also, Steve has a point about liability. If, by rule, the game is over, the umpire should leave the field. If necessary, explain to the coach that your insurance does not permit you to continue working. If the teams want to continue, that's fine, but they will have to do it without the umpire. Of course, you'll get the standard promise that nothing will happen, we won't argue, etc., but when little Susie breaks her leg and it comes out that the game should have been stopped because the rules indicate the game was over, the umpire's name will be included as a Defendent when the lawsuit is filed. And now, because the game ceased to be a sanctioned event when it was supposedly officially over, the insurance company may have the right to step away from the table.

This happens to me at least at least once a year. I'm always the bad guy for walking off the field, but to tell you the truth, Murphy's Law has nothing on Rowe's Law and I can ill afford to be held liable for someone else's mistake.