Today’s article is based on basketball, yet it can be easily adapted and modified, up to a certain point, by other team sports disciplines. Much of the ideas listed here are definitely not all my own but acquired from fellow seasoned international referees and also from printed sources.
End-of-game fouling situations, at times especially in close games, present certain unique dilemmas for referees. It does not take much (and this is the hard part) to know very well that the team which is losing is fouling with the clear intent of stopping the clock and thus forcing the other team to shoot, and hopefully miss, the resultant free throws.
But, the big question is, are the losers fouling in an un-sportsmanlike manner?
If one had to listen blindly to the coaches and the supporters of the losing team, it would sound like the absolute majority of such end-of-game fouls should be ruled un-sportsmanlike. This is very easy to say, but yet much harder to do.
The reality is, however, that if a winning-team dribbler gets his arm hit or smacked by a losing team player to stop the clock and you always call an un-sportsmanlike foul, you are in trouble.
Those who believe in the true literal application of the rules might probably not accept this reasoning.
The FIBA and also the NCAA rules read, “An unsportsmanlike foul is a personal foul that, on the basis of observation of the act, is not a legitimate attempt to directly play the ball or a player. ...Holding or pushing an opponent in order to stop the game clock, pushing a player in the back to prevent a score, causing excessive contact with an opponent while playing the ball, fouling a player who is away from the ball and not directly involved with he play or contact with a player making a throw-in.” The words alter slightly between the two federations named above, but the accepted philosophy is the same.
When analysing such things, there are some little things a referee can do to make sure that such end-of-game fouling situations do not get out of hand.
One option is to try to call the first foul. Most of the time, the player being fouled is the one with the ball. In these final instances of a game, the defenders are usually madly trying to get to that player. They will reach in and try to slap at the ball and/or the player.
One should therefore try as much as possible to let go of the advantage/disadvantage principle and call the foul immediately, i.e. at the first hint of contact.
If some may ask why should this be done, the answer is that basically because the initial and prompt whistle will stop the action and thereby prevent more and more subsequent harder fouling.
Experience has taught many that if the referee allows the first minor slap go without a whistle, the defender is then going to foul harder next time since he was not sanctioned initially.
This will lead to a spiral effect as the harder/tougher the foul, the more the referee will hear demands for, “unsportsmanlike!!” or the old-version (sic) of “intentional!” and the winning team players get also angrier and/or frustrated at the contact generated by the hard fouls.
Though the referee might ignore that minor slap, say, in the middle of the second quarter, now is the time to get it right away. Referees should read the game enough so as not to make the defender push the offensive player aggressively off the court to get a whistle.
It is also imperative for a referee to try as much as possible to talk to both teams. Usually the best moment to do so is when teams, especially abroad, are coming out from a time-out near the end of close games. This, it has been found, is a great time for the referee to talk to both teams. He should try hard to tell the team, preferably the captain, that is losing to try as much as possible to “play the ball,” “don’t commit a hard foul,” and/or “make it look like a normal foul.”
In this way the losing team will (all should understand this and not understand the referee in a bad context) know the referee is feeling the game and is looking to call the first foul and they do not have to do anything extreme to stop the clock.
At the same time, the referee should also tell the winning team to expect to be fouled. The referee should remind them that the other team is (generally expected to, although this generalisation, unfortunately and at times quite in an unsporting manner, loses its meaning sometimes in the Maltese game!) merely trying to stop the clock and not trying to hurt any player.
The referee should thus assure the winning team that they will be protected. In such a circumstance, the winning team will know that the referee is aware that they are about to be fouled and thus they do not need to overreact to the contact and earn a foolish retaliatory foul.
Having done all this, the referee will then have to, without thinking, call the hard foul unsportsmanlike. Violent contact must always be ruled unsportsmanlike. From experience, I advise fellow referees to look for two-handed pushes from behind and jersey grabs, especially on airborne players. We need to see this flagrant contact and call it immediately as in the process we would be sending the clear message that this type of contact would not be tolerated. (This week I was forced to call an unsportsmanlike foul even though I am sure the player who committed the foul had no idea what he had done wrong. The action involved an airborne player whose defender literally moved under him whilst trying to win an offensive foul. This is a very dangerous move, often unnoticed by the spectators, which needs to be stopped immediately).
Trouble starts, and sometimes fights erupt, when referees ignore fouls with only some seconds left, hoping the horn sounds quickly to end the game. Yet, at times, we have to have an acute feel of the game spirit and an experienced good referee will prefer to stop the game and maybe stay for a further few more minutes on the court then having to witness a massive fight at the end of the game or worse still slightly before the game with all the resulting consequences of disqualifications, reports and disciplinary hearings.
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