is this legal? im not a coach im just a parent but i always thought refs werent allowed to put there hands on kids unless there is a potentially dangerous move or they didnt hear the whistle? please watch this video of my son wrestling he is in the red and black and tell me why the ref felt the need to grab his arm and pull it down then pin him right after?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II25ojup3HQ

Looks OK to me, it looks like your boy may have had a hold of the headgear or on the face. Not all that uncommon when those situations happen for them to reach up and pull it off. I am not an official so my word is not golden by any means.

They will do it to keep hands off the eyes and mouth to discourage gouging or hooking (even accidental) it is common for them to do so.

I am not a ref either but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, ok I didn't but want to.

After watching the video, I can say that the official did the right thing. It looks as if your son is pulling on the other wrestlers headgear. Officials do this in little league matches, middle school matches, and High School matches. Your boys action was illegal, but the official was not going to stop the match and give a point since the other wrestler had a pinning combination. He stops the illegal action, whether it be pulling headgear, gouging the eyes, covering the mouth, or pulling on a singlet. This give the other wrestler the chance to still get the pin. Absolutely nothing wrong with the officials actions.

Only time I agree with beeson! Haha! Great answer.

And here's the rule if there was not a pin in that situation. The offensive wrestler should get an "extra" near-fall point (so 3 NF ends up being 4NF) and he gets an additional point for the violation (grabbing the headgear).

The rule book does not require stoppage of the match for all illegal holds/actions and the official is allowed to correct such action without stopping the match if possible. This is a very common situation and is almost always handled this way, as others have noticed.