Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
My own views have evolved a bit over the years.
Staged fights are pretty much gone from the game now. The kind of fights where a player has to ‘answer the bell’ for a hard but legal hit were always stupid and need to be banished as well. The dedicated face-puncher on the roster is pretty much gone. These are definite areas of progress.
I'd be happy enough to see fighting be an automatic misconduct, with the possibility of suspension by DOPS for deliberately instigating (rather than the minor penalty that the referees never want to call). In a heavy, fast contact sport, there will always be times when two players simply lose their temper and throw punches, but there's no good reason to consider that a legitimate part of the game.
The one thing I'd like to see is referee's discretion to make the misconduct 10 minutes if a player was acting in self-defence, or a game if he wasn't. That would discourage coaches from sending out a 4th-line mook to try to tangle with an opposing star and take him out of the game, which would otherwise be a temptation.
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The NLL provides a good template for how to handle.
The basics of the rule are this:
Rule 80: FIGHTING
A fight is an incident where at least one player is
penalized for throwing a punch, punches or blows at an
opposing player. Referees have the discretion to assess
minor penalties for roughing (see roughing rule) or a
major penalty for fighting based on the degree of violence
of the punches or blows thrown at an opposing player
along with any other appropriate penalties. Players who
engage to fight shall be assessed appropriate penalties.
The referee is provided very wide latitude in the penalties,
which he may impose under this Rule. This is done
intentionally to enable him to differentiate between the
obvious degrees of responsibility of the participants either
for starting the fighting or persisting in continuing the
fighting. The discretion provided should be exercised
realistically.
It is the intent and purpose of this Rule that the referee
shall impose the “major and a game misconduct” penalty
in all cases where the instigator or retaliator of the fight is
the aggressor and is plainly doing so for the purpose of
intimidation or punishment.
103
Referees are directed to employ every means provided
by these rules to stop “brawling”.
Unwilling combatant: For definition purposes an ‘unwilling
combatant’ is a player who attempts to defend himself
against his opponent by protecting himself from incoming
blows and or punches. The unwilling combatant will use
his best efforts to deflect any incoming blows or punches.
The unwilling combatant criteria will include not dropping
his gloves, not taking his helmet off on his own accord, or
any other actions that would constitute the player being
deemed as willing to engage in the fight.
Also, the unwilling combatant does not initially counter
with any return punches or blows. The unwilling
combatant may be subject to appropriate penalties, if
any, for his actions.
Such suspensions and fines shall be subject to review by
the League that shall have the right to confirm, mitigate
or increase the suspensions and fines assessed.
But there are a lot of nuances and additional rules. The net impact has been that fighting has almost vanished from the sport. There is the occasional fight, but VERY few because the consequences are severe enough.
https://www.nll.com/wp-content/uploa...ook.Final_.pdf
