Question Number: 26466

Law 5 - The Referee 6/17/2012

RE: Adult

pete hardwick of st peter port, guernsey uk asks...

When i used to play at school, the ref (or teacher) would always blow the whistle at me, whilst spinning his hands around each other, shouting travelling...What was i doing wrong


Pete

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Playing a football (soccer) game officiated by a basketball referee? (grins)

There is no such foul known as travelling in the Laws of the Game. I suspect your teacher was not a certified referee, and was only calling things that he thought were in the Laws.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

,Either you were playing basketball and your memory is gone or the referee THOUGHT you were playing basketball.

Travelling is when you take more than 1 step while holding the basketball in your hands. Unless you're Michael Jordan who used to be given 3-4 steps every time he drove to the basket

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Pete
Was this done when you were taking a throw in? If that was the case the referee was of the opinion that walking while taking a throw in constituted an incorrectly taken throw in by the fact that one foot was in the air at the moment the throw in was taken. Many referees expect the player to be standing with both feeting on the ground while taking the throw in.
The referee was either a basketball coach or perhaps Irish where in Gaelic football carrying the ball more than 4 yards without touching the ball with the foot is called travelling and in both codes the signal for the foot offence is as you decribe.
If it was done in regular play then the only thought that I have is that he was coaching a particular way of playing. It is certainly not in the Laws of the Game