January 24, 2012
Hey, Ref: Tying up loose ball questions
by Paul Quill/
A Red defender has just stripped his attackman, picked up the loose ball and started upfield. The White attacker is in hot pursuit, revenge on his mind.
As they near midfield, the attacker’s desperate, angry wrap check gets nothing but ribs.
Flag down!
The defender smartly dishes the ball to a midfielder who drops it; as I begin to raise my whistle to blow the ball dead, the horn sounds to end the third quarter.
“White No. 12, slash, one 1 minute. No faceoff; Red ball at midfield.”
In a tie game entering the fourth quarter, every possession counts.
“Whoa, whoa, ref,” White’s coach yells excitedly. “Why does Red start with the ball? It was loose when the quarter ended!”
As we all know — hopefully from reading this column — when a period ends during an uneven penalty situation, the team with possession gets to keep the ball, but there is a faceoff when the ball is loose. Indeed, that’s the White coach’s argument.
The problem with that argument is that the foul had not been adjudicated yet. By rule, Red keeps the ball.
Rule 4, Section 3, A.R. 9: A1 has possession and B1 commits a penalty; a flag is down. The ball becomes loose as the period ends. (1) The flag creates an uneven penalty situation; or (2) the flag creates an even penalty situation.
Ruling: (1) The next period starts with the ball awarded to Team A at the same relative position at the other end of the field and B1 serving penalty time. Faceoff restrictions do not apply. (2) Faceoff.
Thus, if both teams had been down a player, there would have been a faceoff, but because White had the only penalty it was Red getting the ball without a draw.
Another similar situation: White is man-down, the ball is loose, the score is tied and the final seconds of the fourth quarter are ticking down. A White player pushes Red in the back; I raise my hand and shout, “Play on!” and a second later the horn sounds to end the fourth quarter.
I let both teams know that Red will have possession to start overtime, and the White coach loses his mind. “Hey ref! That ball was loose! It was loose! You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about!”
But I do (and the coach should brush up not only on this rule but also on the sections concerning “unsportsmanlike conduct”):
Rule 7, Section 11, A.R. 58. During a man-down at the close of a period, there is a loose-ball, play-on push. The period ends as the whistle is to sound for the play-on.
Ruling: The play-on signifies possession so, when the period ends, the offended team gets possession of the ball to start the next period.
These similar situations always take a lot of convincing, especially when the game is a close one. While most players, coaches, and fans are aware of the “possession” rule when a period is ending with an uneven-penalty situation, there are times when a loose ball still can result in possession to start the next period. They don’t happen in every game, but they are more common than you might think.
This article originally appeared in the January 2012 issue of New England Lacrosse Journal.
Paul Quill is a youth and high school referee in Eastern Massachusetts. Contact him with your questions, comments or story suggestions at feedback@laxjournal.com
