Back court fouls in a one on one situation create many problems for officials, coaches, players and spectators alike. The offensive team always feels hard done by if their point guard gets hacked while brining the ball up the court, but if no clear disadvantage is apparent (such as losing control of the ball, or having to stop a dribble) the official should not really have to make a call, unless in the context of the way the game has been played (over-physically and rough) the referee make have to make a 'soft' call to make the players aware that the officials are aware of the physicality of the game. But in the same token, if the officials have let the game be played this way a call like this may seem overly soft as heavier contact has occured in rebounding or off-ball situations. Now all this may sound confusing, as it is, and is what creates what some people call 'inconsistency'.

An easy way to establish a back court one-on-one call is to watch the defense and referee the offense, meaning dont fall into the trap of penalising the defense just because the offense makes it look alot worse than what it is.

Example 1-
One-on-one backcourt play, offense drives takes the ball up the center and the defense pressures them with boy contact, not enough to loose the ball but enough to hassle them, offense gets the pass off to the wing at the same time a harder bump occurs,
-the pass goes to the directed player - no foul needed

-pass goes out of court - foul needed.

I remember an older referee telling me that we should never cancel a basket that is caused by the defense, if so we have not allowed proper implication of the advantage/disadvantage rule. Meaning a player on the drive gets hacked hard, but then continues the lay up and scores the bucket. We call a foul, basket waived, side ball. We dont call a foul, player continues, basket scored. Now i dont think many coaches or players alike can complain about that situation (unless in the bonus or a really hard foul).

Best bet talk to more experienced referees such as Nathan Wieland, Phil Haines, Andy Filmer, these blokes know exactly how to call advantage disadvantage.

if it is a physical game - little things will slip - as refs feel like they will spoil the game.

if it is a timid game - the refs may pick more up

I suggest you establish a brief forum with the referees before EACH INDIVIDUAL GAMe and find out where there head is at - then work from there

as a ref I know - that I seek to find some common graound with the rule book, players and coaches

In a game at MARS, a guy pulled my shirt as I ran past him on a fast break - his hand slipped off my shirt and I kept going but slowed and turned waiting for the whistle - ref said because I could keep going I had an advantage....never mind the unsportsmanlike foul.

I was behind the halfway line on a steal, the shirt pulling clearly slowed me down - there was no-one in front of me - his teammate meanwhile had caught up in front - consequently I slowed down! The ref told me no disadvantage because i had kept going past the initial guy I stole the ball off, despite me slowing down with a guy hanging off my shirt for a second!

It's such a subjective rule, prone to inconsistent calling. (ie) Is it an advantage to let a guy go who gets fouled on a cut but then has an open layup but he misses a shot - where if you had called the foul he would have had 2 bonus free throws?

Indeed. I feel this only confuses it further - any contact by an opponent in bball is really a disadvantage, isn' it?

I'm of the opinion that a foul is a foul, no matter where it occurs or in what situation.

Ref's can call games tight or let teams bump around a bit, as long as they are consistent for the whole game than I'm happy.

Players need to adjust to the style of play, but how can you adjust when one ref will call the shirt pull and another will not

I agree that players should be called for fouls if they make contact in the back court.

I agree with some of the posts above, if players are called for fouls then they can either stop fouling or foul out. Plus they will give the other team foul shots.

Basketball is a game of skill, not force. Plus, people should consider the impact on the point guards head if somebody is able to push them all game. Imagine if you had to do your job with somebody pushing you every time you were doing something. You wouldn't perform very well.

Keep it clean and make defence play with their feet and position. Rather than pushing and holding.

Check out the article in FIBA Assist Issue 11 about the Principle of Offensive Threat written by Fred Horgan and member of the rules wrting group for FIBA.

I also just found the article in the resource library on the SA referees website. http://sarefs.basketball.net.au/fs_home.asp
http://www.fiba.com/asp_includes/download.asp?file_id=429

I guess the problem with interpretation is everyone has a different definition of what is sportsmanship and fair play.

38.1 Rules of conduct
38.1.1 The proper conduct of the game demands the full and loyal cooperation of the members of both teams (players, substitutes, coaches, assistant coaches and team followers) with the officials, table officials and commissioner.
38.1.2 Each team shall do its best to secure victory, but this must be done in the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play.

My greatest concern is that Impaler (#39394) discusses "boy contact" and uses the name Impaler in the same post!!!

all jokes aside, i prefer the umpire/s (if lucky enuff to have 2!!!) discuss with themselves before the game the way they wanna call it and be consistent.

In senior grades, if players can't adjust their thinking to the way the game is being umpired (hard or soft calls) then there is a problem. I'll say it again, as long as the umpires are consistent in their calling, i don't care if they do or don't allow an advantage.