continuation into bleachers

[DaveASA/FED]

I have a question. The other night team A made a bad hit and a girl went after it near the bleachers behind me (I am up official) I follow the ball and see the girl hit the ball prior to it reaching dead ball territory. Following the hit I follow the ball back to the court. The player that hit the ball for hit #2 after hitting the ball continued on into the bleachers. Coach from team B wanted me to call it out as the player continued into the bleachers after hitting the ball. I thought that as long as you hit the ball prior to entering dead ball territory that you were ok. Is this true or did I blow this one? Also I did not see the girl hit the bleachers but I did hear what sounded like her continuing into them.

[Homer]

Originally posted by DaveASA/FED
I have a question. The other night team A made a bad hit and a girl went after it near the bleachers behind me (I am up official) I follow the ball and see the girl hit the ball prior to it reaching dead ball territory. Following the hit I follow the ball back to the court. The player that hit the ball for hit #2 after hitting the ball continued on into the bleachers. Coach from team B wanted me to call it out as the player continued into the bleachers after hitting the ball. I thought that as long as you hit the ball prior to entering dead ball territory that you were ok. Is this true or did I blow this one? Also I did not see the girl hit the bleachers but I did hear what sounded like her continuing into them.

Assuming the bleachers are in the nonplayable area [i.e, more than 6 feet from the sidelines], the ball is dead and a fault is committed whenever the ball OR a player "breaks the plane of a nonplayble area" - Rule 9-3-3.j

So assuming the bleachers were nonplayable and she did either enter the bleachers, touch the bleachers, or break the plane of the bleachers, it should have been a fault and point for the other team - regardless of where she contacted the ball.

OTOH, if you didn't see it and no one on your officiating team saw it, that's the breaks of the game ["Sorry, coach!"]
- you can't call what you don't see. This is the sort of situation where you can get help from your down official however - a situation "clearly out of the referee's view" where the umpire's assistance in getting the call right is permitted.

I'd have at least consulted my umpire and ask if s/he saw the player going into the bleachers. But iffen neither of you saw it, it didn't happen!

[DaveASA/FED]

Thanks Homer. That is what it boiled down to I did not see it and when I asked my partner all he said was "That is your call." Which I had a talk to him about after the game. It did not matter in the result of the game as the "offended" team got a point as a result of continuation but I hate when I miss something! I heard the noise of the bleachers but there were kids in these bleachers all night making banging noises so that was not a sure indicator!

[Andy]

Similar situation in my match last night.

Score is team A - 24, Team B - 20. player from team A runs toward her bench to play the ball, makes the hit directing the ball back to the court and team A wins the point. I was the referee, I saw the team A player going toward her bench, but turned my attention away from her and back to the ball after she hit it. I thought she may have continued into the bench area, which was defined in pregame as non-playable area, but was not sure. Just after I blew the whistle to award team A the point, my partner runs over to me and tells me the team A player definitely broke the plane of non-playable area. I decided to award the point to team B and continue the game with a 24-21 score. Team A coach grumbled a bit, but accepted the ruling.

Was this handled correctly?

I had only worked with this partner once before and was not impressed. I did tell him later that he should have blown the whistle and made the call when it happened.

[lightenup]

Looks like the right call was made although you are correct that the umpire should blown the whistle when it happened.

I also had a situation in a match that I call that could relate to this. Team A player runs towards the bench and plays the ball legally and goes to the floor in front of the bench at the feet of their coach. Team A's coach then proceeds to help the player up and push her back to the court to get her back in the play. The umpire blew the whistle calling the player out of bounds due to the coach helping her back out. I agreed with the reasoning but do not know if that is the correct call.