Author Topic: Holding question  (Read 2520 times)

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Offline SideLine

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Holding question
« on: August 18, 2017, 09:48:19 AM »
When a ball is loose, can a player hold an opponent in order to prevent him from reaching the loose ball?


Offline Ralph Damren

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Re: Holding question
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2017, 10:11:13 AM »
While 2-3-4c & 2-3-5b state : "Push, PULL, or ward off an opponent in an actual attempt to get to...a loose ball..." is allowed it doesn't indicate that a player can hold an opponent to keep him from getting to the ball ^flag. Some may argue that you can't pull someone without holding him. IMHO, grabbing an opponent and pulling him aside is different than holding a person back.

That's my opinion, I welcome yours....

Offline VA Official

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Re: Holding question
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2017, 10:18:33 AM »
When a ball is loose, can a player hold an opponent in order to prevent him from reaching the loose ball?

No. 2-3-4c and 2-3-5b are both intended, in my opinion, to cover an attempt to reach a loose ball. 2-3-4c (offensive player) doesn't specify an attempt to reach a loose ball, but I believe it's implied because 2-3-5b (defensive player) does specify it. What you described is a material restriction with the intention of preventing a player from reaching the ball, and that's a foul. This is verbatim in 9-2-1c and 9-2-3c. Edit: As Ralph said before I was able to send this!
« Last Edit: August 18, 2017, 10:46:01 AM by VA Official »

Offline Rulesman

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Re: Holding question
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2017, 11:30:01 AM »
While 2-3-4c & 2-3-5b state : "Push, PULL, or ward off an opponent in an actual attempt to get to...a loose ball..." is allowed it doesn't indicate that a player can hold an opponent to keep him from getting to the ball ^flag. Some may argue that you can't pull someone without holding him. IMHO, grabbing an opponent and pulling him aside is different than holding a person back.

That's my opinion, I welcome yours....
Does the word "grab", or "grabbing", imply material restriction? If so, should the word "pull" should be removed from the rule?
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Offline The Roamin' Umpire

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Re: Holding question
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2017, 07:00:42 AM »
As VA Official points out, you definitely need to read 2-3-4c and 2-3-5b together with 9-2-1c and 9-2-3c to get the full picture. The first two say that you can pull an opponent to get to a loose ball (or to the runner, if you're a defender), the latter two say that you may not grasp or hold "in an effort to restrain an opponent", with no exceptions provided.

The way I've always interpreted this is that you can move opponents out of the way, including by grabbing them, to make your own path to a loose ball or the runner, but not to make a path for a teammate nor to simply keep them out of the play.

Hence, the pull-and-shoot (DL pulls OL down/aside so that LB can charge through the hole) is illegal, but if the same DL grabs the OL and tosses him aside so that he can get to the QB, that's OK. (If the OL does this, though, it's a foul - he's not trying to get to the runner or a loose ball.) Similarly, if you grab and pull and opponent out of the way as you dive for a loose ball, no problem. Grab him so that your buddy can dive on the loose ball, foul.

Offline Ralph Damren

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Re: Holding question
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2017, 01:25:13 PM »
The way I've always taught it is :

If you pull an opponent out of the way, as YOU try to get to the ball, that's OK.

If you pull an opponent out of the way, as HE tries to get to the ball, that's not.  ^flag

A judgment call ?  Sure ,but that's what we get the big bucks for. ^TD !

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