Rules Quiz

[Sonny]

Answer under both NCAA & Federation Rules.

During a loose ball, A1 pushes B1. Play on, slow whistle. Play is eventually blown dead by the refs to award the ball to Team B. Before the next restart, B1 violently cross checks A1 in the helmet... not once but twice.

Ruling & restart location?

[Zeuslax]

2 flags on B1 and he can restart from the parking lot.

[LaxRef]

Answer under both NCAA & Federation Rules.

During a loose ball, A1 pushes B1. Play on, slow whistle. Play is eventually blown dead by the refs to award the ball to Team B. Before the next restart, B1 violently cross checks A1 in the helmet... not once but twice.

Ruling & restart location?

The loose-ball stuff is a red herring, since it confers possession to Team B and nothing else. We do not have simultaneous fouls, since the foul by Team A was live-ball and the fouls by Team B were dead-ball. Thus, all we have is the two dead-ball cross-checks on B1.

There are a number of ways to go here, depending on what you see and how you judge the incidents. But the most obvious is that B1 is ejected for fighting:

Fighting is defined as a player, substitute, nonplaying member of a squad, coach or anyone officially connected with a team deliberately striking or attempting to strike anyone in a malicious manner, or leaving the bench or coaches area during an altercation.

ART. 1 . . . A player, substitute, coach, nonplaying member of a team or anyone officially connected with the team shall be ejected for:

a. Deliberately striking or attempting to strike anyone or leaving the bench
area during an altercation.

So, B1 is out of the game with a 3:00 NR penalty to be served by the in-home. Team A is awarded possession in Zone 3. B1 will serve a suspension (NCAA) or may serve a suspension (NFHS; depends on association rules).

Although B1 had two cross checks, it may make the most sense to treat it all as one incident. You could call it a dead-ball USC plus fighting if you felt the need to up the penalty time involved.

And, of course, under NFHS rules, if you didn't call it fighting but called it two USCs, the guy is still gone. But I'm going to call it fighting or flagrant misconduct and get that guy out of there.

[laxfan25]

I'm with LaxRef on this one - if it is a particularly violent action, especially to the head, outside of the play of the game and he repeats it to boot - give HIM the boot.
The game will get settled down much quicker, you lessen the chance for retaliatory action later and you show the teams that you are in charge.
Done.

[Sonny]

Similar situation......

During a loose ball, A1 pushes B1. Play on, slow whistle. During the slow whistle (Play On), B1 violently cross checks A1 in the helmet. Flag down. Immediate Whistle. After whistle to stop play, B1 cross checks A1 again in the helmet violently.

Ruling & restart location?

[laxfan25]

Well this is a whole different kettle of fish.

For sake of the this initial discussion, let's keep violently out.
The push that caused the play-on now becomes a time-serving penalty because of the personal foul by B1 (simultaneous fouls). A1 would serve 30 seconds and B1 1 minute - the first 30 of which are non-releasable for both. A1 would be given the ball, since they have shorter penalty time. If it is in A1's offensive end, restart at the spot of the foul or outside the attack area if the fouls were inside. If it is in A1's defensive half, spot of the foul or laterally outside the box - this is about the only exception to the free clear on a time-serving penalty - simultaneous fouls.

Now we have the dead ball foul on B1 - he gets another minute added to the first, and he can be released after 30 seconds on a goal by A.
Since this foul is not simultaneous, A would get the ball in the offensive half; either spot of the foul, outside the attack are or just over the midline if it is in A's defensive half. The previous two fouls have no impact on this penalty.

With the violent aspect, you can consider all the previous options for ejection. This is the NCAA rule - I'm going to go check to see if it is the same for NFHS. As far as I can tell, looking at my '05 PDF of the Fed book - enforcement would be the same - no free clear on simultaneous fouls if the ball is in the team's defensive half.