Speed and distance don't apply to someone who has the ball. The player with the ball must expect to be guarded at all angles regardless if they have seen them or not.

Feet first and facing. Once established then lateral or backwards movements to the direction of the ball, keeps the defender legal. Easy way is to referee the defence, ignore what the offence is doing except for the exact time they leave the ground. Probably makes those 50/50 more 70/30

Probably still the most contentious call in basketball!

It is a little like the holding the ball or in the back rule in football, although this has had rule changes recently it is still very much up to interpretation by the officials themselves.

Generally speaking I like the offence not rewarded when they are causing the contact or out of control and the defense penalised when their hands are in or they are moving their feet, but I think the rules are clear, it is usuallys the interpretation that differs...

Charge/block has been made incredibly tough in Australia because we generally haven't called it like the rest of the world.

In putting less onus on a defender to establish legal position before taking a charge, we have developed a culture of players throwing themselves in front of the ball-handler and going to ground, which doesn't happen nearly as much elsewhere.

For a while this season the refs started calling it as per the international game, which was great, but it seems in the past month it's gone back to a default charge if a defender flies backwards.

Drmic took a charge at some point in their recent game that I thought was pretty questionable. He got position a fraction of a second before contact - there would've been no time for the offensive player to adjust.

Just not sure what it achieves for the game. We want to see defenders getting steals and blocks, or changing shots, not succeeding through simply getting in the way at the last second.

Very good summary paul. Our refs encourage flopping, which generally gets worse as you go down through the levels...

Doesn't really encourage people to defend properly when they see Goulding and Sobey getting calls when they defend with the actual purpose of getting a charge called.

The other thing that I've noticed recently is they will call you for "dropping the shoulder" whenever a ballhandler bends their knees and runs in a lower, slightly more horizontal position, even if contact is minimal or non-existant, or most annoyingly: when the ballhandler is faster than the defender and beats them to the spot by a mile.

Because ballhandling isn't something that Aussies generally do at a very high level, our refs aren't used to the full range of body positions that great ballhandlers contort themselves into: getting down very low to cross over or decelerate or accelerate past someone, getting down low to squeeze through a gap, etc.

We encourage flopping at all levels of the game here, and have done since the early to mid 2000s.

Can anyone quote the FIBA rules? That's what we're supposed to be bound by, isn't it? I would have a look, but I'm time poor this arvo.

Clearly a charge

I thought it would be interesting to explore everyones understanding of the charge and block.
It was best explained to me somewhat like the following:
Speed, time, distance.

Can anyone quote the FIBA rules? That's what we're supposed to be bound by, isn't it?

33.4. Guarding a player who controls the ball When guarding a player who controls (holding or dribbling) the ball, the elements of time and distance do not apply. The player with the ball must expect to be guarded and must be prepared to stop or change his direction whenever an opponent takes an initial legal guarding position in front of him, even if this is done within a fraction of a second. The guarding (defensive) player must establish an initial legal guarding position without causing contact before taking his position. Once the defensive player has established an initial legal guarding position, he may move to guard his opponent, but he may not extend his arms, shoulders, hips or legs to prevent the dribbler from passing by him. When judging a charge/block situation involving a player with the ball, an official shall use the following principles: • The defensive player must establish an initial legal guarding position by facing the player with the ball and having both feet on the floor. • The defensive player may remain stationary, jump vertically, move laterally or backwards in order to maintain the initial legal guarding position. • When moving to maintain the initial legal guarding position, one foot or both feet may be off the floor for an instant, as long as the movement is lateral or backwards, but not towards the player with the ball. • Contact must occur on the torso, in which case the defensive player would be considered as having been at the place of contact first. • Having established a legal guarding position the defensive player may turn within his cylinder to avoid injury. In any of the above situations, the contact shall be considered as having been caused by the player with the ball.

What gets me about many of the charge calls, is the requirement to establish a legal guarding position.
I feel that in many cases, that never actually happens, the player remains in continuous motion and never establishes position.

"We encourage flopping at all levels of the game here, and have done since the early to mid 2000s."

Mick, it was pretty rife in the mid-late 80s when I started following the NBL.

Interesting to see that explanation from the FIBA rules. Not the way I was trained, having said that in my experience allowing for speed time and distance means that the defensive player is in an initial legal guarding position. Even though an initial legal guarding position seems to be a bit vague. I think most of us agree that knight or wagstaff flinging their chest in front of a faster opponent with a foot of the ground , despite seemingly ok by the aforementioned rules is not what we think a charge should be