Here are the final answers to the rules quiz questions sent out last month. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Officials conduct a stick check between first and second quarters. Team A is flagged for an illegal stick (3 min NR). Officials then realized they had selected two stick from Team A. How should this situation be addressed?
This is a situation that easily occur often as officials scramble to grab sticks, especially in a two-man crew. A good practice when conducting a stick check is to confirm colors with your partner before measuring.
In this situation, the officials have reported a penalty for an illegal stick (3 min NR) and must enforce the penalty. It is not an inadvertent flag or whistle as both of those occur during live ball play and, in the case of an inadvertent flag, occurs when the official DID NOT, in fact, assess a penalty. (Rule 7-12-3,4). Nor can the official waive off the foul. A crosse was measured and found to be illegal.
The issue is that two sticks from the same team were inspected. Therefore, the best solution would be to select two sticks from the opposing team and inspect them. While this would prolong the official’s time out, it would make the inspections equitable, and, if his were the first crosse inspection of the half, the crew would have satisfied the requirements for the half (Rule 4-27-2).
Officials notice during play that B12’s mouthpiece is stuck on the top of his helmet (did not come out as a result of play). The proper response is:
Immediate whistle, this is NOT a Flag Down Slow Whistle (FDSW) situation. Technical foul on B12. (Rule 1-9-1 Situation B, 6-5-2 k)
Player A11 has white gloves, a black head on his crosse and pink tape that was at least 6 inches down. The proper call is:
The intent of this rule is to allow officials to see that the players are not touching the head of the crosse, therefore the tape/paint, glove and head should be of contrasting color. In this situation, white, black and pink satisfy the requirements; this is a legal play. Do not be too good here; if you can see what you need to see faceoff. (Rule 4-3-3 n) Don’t be too good.
A5 scores. Before the faceoff, B7 is assessed a conduct foul. Dead ball conduct foul means ball is awarded to Team A, no faceoff. Team B then requests a stick check on the goal scorer. A5 stick has a deep pocket. How should this be handled?
These are NOT simultaneous fouls since the fouls occur during a dead ball and the sequence of fouls is clear (conduct, first, followed by the illegal stick). Enforce the fouls in the order they occurred: Award ball to A for B’s conduct foul, and then A5 serves 1 minute NR for the personal foul. Unfortunately, there is no consequence for B7’s conduct foul. Team B is at full strength and awarded the ball at Center (in their offensive half of the field). (Rule 7-6-1)
Officials believe that the crease is not the proper diameter. The proper action to take is:
If officials find field markings are improper or missing, they should notify the home coach to see if the issue can be rectified, and if not, play the game and submit a game report to the assignor. (Rule 1-2 Situation)
These fouls are the only ones that result in a penalty when dealing with the field or goals:
- Failure to have a clearly marked center line is illegal procedure against home team. (Rule 1-2-1)
- Failure to have legal goals 3 minute NR against home team. (Rule 1-4-3)
Team A is man down, intercepts pass and clears ball. Once they have touched the ball into the box, Team A calls Time Out. Towards the end of the TO, officials realize that team A had 6 players in their offensive half, but that there was still time remaining in A’s penalty. The proper action to take is:
There are a number of ways this can be handled depending on the specifics of the game. Officials might rule that Team A’s TO was up and therefore charged, but ball would be awarded to B due to the illegal procedure. They could also rule that the TO should not have been granted, immediately end the TO and not charge it to the team. Issues that might affect what you choose to do are the score (tie v blowout), time remaining, youth v GHSA game, scrimmage, regular season, playoff game.
Another issue to consider is who was the sixth player on the field for Team A? If the A player serving the penalty had released early he would be placed in the box with an addition 30-seconds added to his penalty. If Another A player had entered the field, the ball would simply be awarded to B and A would serve out the remaining 5 seconds of his penalty.
Best case scenario is to be sure to check the time and the box to know when teams are all even. Catching the IP before granting TO or ending the TO immediately and not charging it to Team A (or at least asking if they still wanted it) and announcing the turnover are both preferable.