I am no student of the game, but there is another difficult to call aspect of the backcourt violation where a team doesn't quite have control of the ball and a player leaps from one side to another, catching the ball in mid-air. I remember reading on OzHoops about a Dragons game where Rosell Ellis was involved in a contentious decision.

i alwasy thought u could straddle the lins so long as u didnt shift ur weight from front foot to back foot

and yeah there is some thing about having to have team control for it to be back court so if the defender taps the ball out of the offesive players hand and goes into the back court he can still grab it coz his team didnt have control (left to upmires interpretation of control)

an easy way to understand the rule is not call it a crossing back but over and back where the player with the ball goes over the half line to the front court then back to the back court.

if you are in front court when taking possesion you can not straddle

if you are straddling when receiving (straddling the court not your partner!!) the ball must be coming from the back court

#125417 things like this can happen in the course of the game - you know you shouldn't but sometimes you get trapped or what have you.

VC21 - it is 6 of one isn't it? I understand the concept of the rule just not the interpretation of when one straddles the line.

I can't just be "if you shift your weight" can it? It would have to be an entire lifting up of one's piviot foot wouldn't it?

I understand that they call it coz it "looks wrong" but it doesn't neccessarily mean it is wrong.

I believe that this call has been wrongly interpreted and called since Phil Smyth was a boy!

My take is that if you are moving forward it is not a cross back. If you are moving into the back court then you will get called.

You can jump from the front court into the air catch and pass the ball before landing then you have not crossed back as the action happened before you landed in the back court.

Same thing happens with a dribbler moving forward sometimes they will be one foot on the half way line and one foot in back court dribbling the ball up court, as long as the ball is being moved forward top refs would not call it

Ah ... so when a foot touches the front court then the ball is now in the front court thus meaning if there is still a foot in the back court that foot is for all intents and purposes out of bounds, thus making the ball out of bounds. Does this seem correct?

My understanding is as follows:

A player may not occupy space in the front and back court. I have seen players called on this for making a hesitation at the centre line. Any actions at the centre line must be in the motion of gaining position in the front court. Therefore a player is not allowed to pause while playing in both the frontcourt and back court.

As for the player jumping from the back court receiving the pass in the air and landing in the front court. This rule is the same as the out of bounds rule (both ways) the player exists in the court until a legal position is gained in the other court. ie a player out of bounds until both feet are placed inbounds... a player is in the back court until both feet are in the front court. (falling in line with the earlier intrepretation of a player not being able to occupy postion in both the front and back court)

The americans have a more black and white rule with the back court a player is and remains in the back court until all 3 points (the ball and both feet) are in the front court. This is why NBA and NCAA players can dribble along the centre line.

No, to me that interpretation requires 2 separate and distinct movements, the first being from the frontcourt, the second being in the backcourt. Thus, straddling the line when moving from the backcourt should not be whistled as it is only one motion..

A player can catch the ball coming from the backcourt while they have one foot either side of the centreline. The rule says "after" ie if it is simultaneous it isn't a breach.

The other bit that gets missed is that it is only a breach if the team in control of the ball returns it to the back court. If the ball is in dispute, or the team in control is in their back court, then the ball hasn't been illegally returned.

Div 1 game Friday night - Team A in back court passes, ball finger tipped by Team B player, ball crosses centreline and picked up by another Team B player. Whistle - passing back. Wrong - Team B never had control in the front court.

This rule only interrupts the game in U10s & social games. A lot of the travels and illegal dribbles are let go, but the centreline is strictly policed.

Surely pausing on the half-way line can't be crosscourt...where do you draw the line? What if someone was walking the ball up the court, REALLY SLOWLY, and had both feet planted for a second or two, but are technically still moving forward.

Surely the rule is only about lifting a foot up isn't it? That's the only way there can be a black and white definition.

Anon #125439 - see this is what I am saying - I think that should be the case. Therefore this rule is and has always been wrongly interpreted.

Stupid bloody rule!

I agree that it is wrongly interpreted.

If you can walk really slowly over the half, and at some point have a foot on either side without a violation, then why can't you stop?

If you never "re-enter" the back court, I don't see a violation at all.

Most refs will call it because the violator will probably not argue and if they don't call it the other team will go off at them.

I honestly don't believe this gets incorrectly called as much as people think.

A lot of the time the call will be made and spectators and players will not see the whole play and assume the referee got the interpretation wrong rather then trusting that a violation of the rule occured.

Personally it's been a long time since I've seen this rule enforced incorrectly in the way in which people are suggest; and I think I see my fair share of basketball.

A lot of young referees will call back over the centre line violation when players are straddling the line.
They have the assumption that the player cant be in both sides of the court at the same time, so it must be a violation. You will find at u10-14 level, the players dont know any different to argue the call.


The rule is vague for spectators, players and caoches alike. As soon as someone straddles the line or there is a defensive deflection, they all jump up and yell 'crosscourt', 'crosscourt'.

Just another case of people not understanding the rules of basketball and assuming that what their friend, coach or child told them was how the rule should be.

It's interesting to note that the backcourt rule is a lot less rigidly enforced in the states. You would almost never see a violation called if someone straddled the line or even dribbled sideways across the court to avoid a trap. You can also inbound the ball from the front court and catch it in the backcourt with no violation being called.