Stalling by Offensive Wrestler

deast · #1 (**permalink**) Sat Jan 14, 2006, 10:46pm

Can a Wrestler be called for stalling in the following situation:

Offensive wrestler has a half nelson in and has gained a 3 point near fall. With his other hand just being posted up he is not trying to go for the fall but just ride the other guy out.

I have never seen this called, but another official did and I cannot find a ruling to either support this or not except 5:25:4 in the rule book that states "It is stalling when the contestant in the advantage position does not wrestle aggresively and attempts to secure a fall".

Any Comments?????

PABlue · #2 (**permalink**) Sun Jan 15, 2006, 08:03pm

It all comes down to your judgement! If you think that a wrestler is stalling then he is! It is entirely up to your descetion to when and who you think are not working during a match.

officialtony · #3 (**permalink**) Mon Jan 30, 2006, 05:43pm

If you call stalling on a wrestler who has his opponent in a pinning combination and has earned his 3 point near fall, be prepared to face the wrath of a coach AND defend your call with some kind of rationale. Based on rules book interpretation, you would have to stop the match to award the stalling warning/penalty. Are you prepared to explain that you have taken a wrestlers ability to pin away from him becuase you think he isn't working hard enough?? Do you know what a coach will be doing the minute you make that call? Be prepared to also issue a coaches misconduct because he is going to question your judgment on this one - probably in a very nasty manner. I just can't possibly see where calling stalling here makes ANY sense. You must make that call if you feel it to be true. However, I might look at unsportsmanlike conduct on the top man instead of stalling. Under the guise he is trying to humiliate his opponent by casually pinning him. Again, I just don't see any sense in a stalling call here. If you do, good luck in selling it!!

dknight054 · #4 (**permalink**) Sun Feb 05, 2006, 05:36pm

in the NFHS case book, this type of situation IS covered:

page 33, 6.4.2 situation A: "Wrestler A has Wrestler B in a false cradle and is content in sitting there and holding B in the false cradle after earning a three-point near fall. Should the referee call this a stalemate, a stalling situation or should it be ignored?"

here's the answer:

"This type of situation HAS NOT been interpreted as stalling OR a stalemate situation. Anytime a contestant is held in this type of situation THERE HAS BEEN NO VIOLATION.

the official that DID call the stall in the sittuation mentioned not only made the wrong call, but he made a blatantly bad one.

officialtony · #5 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 07, 2006, 12:56pm

dknight,
Nice work.
Finding the exact scenario was well done.
I knew it was a call I would never make and now I have a casebook interpretation to back me up. I appreciate you doing the research on this. Hopefully others have acknowledged the intent now as well.
No Stalling !!
No Stalemate !!

JerBear · #6 (**permalink**) Sun Nov 26, 2006, 10:16pm

I know this is an old thread but I just joined and I wanted to comment. I had a wrestler in the regionals last year that had a wrestler in an arm bar and the wrist on the arm bar arm with a tight waist. The defensive kid was behind by two points and was trying very hard to get out but was ironed out flat by the offensive wrestler. The offensive wrestler was content to stay where he was and did not try to turn the bottom wrestler at all. I told him to improve his position two or three times in a period of about a minute. I warned him for stalling after there was no attempt and I did hear it from his coach but in my opinion he was stalling with or without the pinning combination. There has to be an attempt to turn even if it is half hearted. All he was doing was protecting a lead, not wrestling.

AlabamaBlue · #7 (**permalink**) Mon Nov 27, 2006, 08:46am

JerBear, that's a completely different situation and is definitely stalling. In the original situation the offensive wrestler had already turned the defensive wrestler and gained a 3 point near fall. In your situation he never turned the bottom man or even tried to turn him. It's tough to turn somebody with an arm bar and a tight waist, and whenever I see holds such as these it's a big clue to look for stalling. If they keep this combo after they've broken the bottom man down, it's almost always going to be stalling if they don't work something else.