LexRides

[brokebike]

we're pretty good about knowing what to call when there's a questionable play during a game, but I wanted to just throw a couple of things out there for discussion's sake. Feel free to voice your own opinions on these few scenarios:

own goals:
should we count any balls that go into a team's own goal when it is deflected off that team's players in any way? I would contend that once a ball is last touched by a mallet of that team - no matter if it is on the shot side or shuffle side of the mallet - and goes in, then it should be counted as an own goal. What if one of that team's players runs over the ball with their wheel and the ball shoots over into their own goal by accident? Should we only count balls that have gone in off a mallet?

blocking goals after foot-down:
There's a bit of discussion about this over on the League forums:
http://www.bikepolo.ca/forum/rules/2009/03/01/defensive-move

Some folks there believe that if a player who is defending a goal dabs, and then while on their way out of the goal to tap out, if a shot is deflected by their bike or mallet or body in any way, then that shot attempt should be awarded as a goal to the team who had control of the ball.

My opinion would be that unless that person who dabbed blatantly tried to defend AFTER they were foot-down, then there should be no assumption that the ball was going to go into the goal. The reason I feel this way is because there are too many times when people foot-down or crash while everyone is circling around the goal. If we counted every attempt on a goal that just happened to be blocked by a person who is either down, or moving to get out of the way, that would be a lot of vague goals being called... and would likely lead to a lot of dispute. However, I do think there should be at least some sort of penalty to anyone who still tries to defend after they have been taken out by a foot-down. In that instance, I wouldn't have too much of an issue with awarding that goal to the offensive team
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[HHack]

This is a long overdue topic. I'm glad we are kicking this around. My opinion is that, if the ball has entered the goal after being struck by an offensive players mallot head and enters the goal, no matter how many things it bounces off of, (except the side of an offensive mallot) it is a point. I also think that if the ball is mishandled by the defense and it goes in the goal, it is a point. For example, a shot is made on goal by a player with the mallot head. The ball hits a defender's tire and goes up in the air about 20 feet, then comes down and ricochets off another offensive players head toward the goal and is blocked by the goaly, but after the block the goaly mishandles it and it goes in. This, to me, should be a point. (especially if I made the shot, just kidding). No really, both scenarios i think warrant an offensive point.

The next topic :goaly being in the way after foot down. This is a dificult situation to call. I think that if a goaly has to tap out that he should make a straight line toward the tap out area without changing directions or making any unecessary movements, motions, or mallet swings. Now if the goaly does this and inadvertantly blocks a shot, I don't think he\she should be penalized for this. However, if you do intensionally block the ball after you should be on your way to the tap out area, there should be a penalty, but i don't think that the point should be awarded. I think that the person who was blocked or a chosen offensive player should be allowed a free shot on an open goal, maybe half the distance from center court to the goal. I think this is the fairest scenario, because really, sometimes the area in front of the goal can be fucking chaos and sometimes you just can't be sure. I don't think a point should ever just be given away unless someone makes a flagrant foul on an offensive player, like T-boning, high-sticking, or hooking someone who gets a breakaway just because you can't get position for a fair block.

Also, I think when anyone foot downs, for any reason they should basically assume a passive robotic behavior of locating the closest tap out spot even if it means that the one that is further away will put you in a better position once you do tap out.

Just some thoughts i have on the matter.

[brokebike]

I like the idea of a half-court penalty shot for a foul offense. But just to not overly complicate the game, I think something like this should only be used in one of those blatant "bad play" scenarios where a person either throws a mallet to block a shot, or tries to block a shot after they have a foot-down.
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