[Mikiko Anhoco]

Hi All,

Just wanted to throw this out there as a situation that happened recently at the Australian Mixed WUCC qualifyinh tournament. Maybe Rueben with his rules knowledge maybe be able to shed light assist or any one else can throw their 2 cents in.

Situation:
Defence is playing zone defence. Offense is near the endzone trying to score.
A player on O is right behind the cup. Defensive player in Cup crashes on disc.

Stall count hits six and Player with disc calls Double Team. Player in cup contests call on basis that popper is within 3 metres. All of this is uncontested and no problems with it to this point.

My problem with this rule is that as soon as the “contest” from the defensive player occurs, its a stoppage in play. Even if the O player immediately realises their mistake (and thats what it was, not intentional), the contested call results in a stoppage and a restart with a check. In this time, the player with disc has a chance to make eye contact with a free player in the endzone and is set to make an immediate throw for score as soon as disc is checked in.

As such, the incorrect call by O results in a stoppage giving them time to gain composure, check out the field and determine their options, where as the defence can do nothing to stop it. The only alternative I see is for the Defence not to contest, at which point, we have to drop the stall count by 2 despite not infringing the rules, and give the offence more time to make a play for their incorrect call.

As I said, are there any ideas out there for why this is acceptable. Given I havn’t played the game for a long time (18mths), then perhaps the rule used to be worse and this is a much improved version. I dont know. Happy to see different points of view.

Cheers