COMOPOLO

notsochristian wrote:

So we entered into this discussion midgame yesterday. It was a worthy topic. (Also, I don't think we have any threads under the Rulez...until now.)

The origin of the discussion was when Charlie and I were driving down the court in a two-on-one situation. Aaron was the defender. I passed to Charlie on my right, he tapped the ball with the end of his mallet. Therefore, it would have counted if it had crossed the line. Aaron's mallet got a piece of the ball and it went in.

Our discussion became a matter of when an own goal counts. Can a player shuffle the ball toward a defender near the goal in hope that the ball crosses the line?

Welp, the NAH rules cover this pretty well. Check rule 7.3 here: http://www.nahardcourt.com/2011-nah-rules/.

No, a player could not get an own goal by shuffling the ball off of the defender. Shots must originate as contact with the end of the mallet. Pretty clear.

However, I do find this language to be ambiguous: "The shuffle of the ball by the defending team into their own goal will be considered a goal if
the ball is mishandled in any way by the defending team so as to put the ball in their goal."

Hmmm. So if I shuffle the ball, a defender touches it and it bounces off of another defender into the goal, it's a goal?

Thoughts?

It depends on what the defenders' touches amounted to.

A) If you make an insanely hard shuffle and it bounces off of multiple defenders and ends up in the goal, no goal.

B) If you shuffle the ball and the defender(s) try to make a play on that ball and they screw it up and see the ball roll in their goal, I think that counts as a good goal.

Every situation is different though, and it depends on what the defender does/is doing/is trying to do for an own goal to be called.