Question Number: 16193

League Specific 8/2/2007

RE: Professional

kidane melles of Asmara, Eritrea Eritrea asks...

In my country a total of three yellow cards in three consequent plays penalize a player from playing one game in the next match.
A player had two yellow cards and the next play the player was cautioned with a third yellow card and this was clearly seen or copied in the video.
The refree who cautioned the player with a yellow card deliberately or by mistake has failed to repot it to the Organizing committee.
The commissioner as well as the fourth official who were supposed to report too have failed to report. As the result the player who was supposed to punished for one game, since it was not reported he played on the next game.
After his play the player and the own team were accused for letting play a punished player even though the player was not reported by anther computingteam.
The organizing commiitee after checking the incident it has assured in video film that the player was cautioned but not repoted either by the refree, commissioner or the fourth official.
So I would like to ask what action or punshments can be taken on the following.
1 On the refree who failed to report the third yellow cauton deliberately or forgotten by mistake.
2. On the assigned commissioner of the play who is supposed to report the happening.
3. On the fourth official too who is assigned to assist the refree.
4. On the team who let her player to play deliberately with three yellow cards as though it did not know.
5 On the player who knows that he had three yellow cards.

Thanks for the cooperation.

Best Regards, Kidane Melles

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

By failing to report the caution which was shown the referee has made it impossible for the league to enforce their own rules regarding suspensions for cautions.

This reinforces the necessity for referees to do their duty and send in a match report in a timely fashion.

I do not know what punishments will be bestowed upon the referee's as I don't know the consequence structure of the referee association in your area.

The team should not have played the player when they know he is supposed to sit, however if the league has not ordered a suspension - its plausible that they may be permitted to play. That depends on the league's rules regarding this sort of thing.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Let's see if I understand the question. If you mean league rules say a player who gets a caution (yellow card) in each of three consecutive games has to sit out a fourth game, then the league can certainly make that rule. It is not the referee's job to police this type of issue, however, that is up to the league. If the issue is brought to the referee's attention prior to the start of the fourth game, she can ask the other team if the player is playing on 3 cautions. If they say no, all the referee can do is to note the question and response in the game report. As for the commissioner, that depends entirely on what duties have been assigned to him or her by the league regarding checking the players' eligibility to play. If a player and her team knowingly play a fourth game while holding three cautions, the league should have a fine or other punishment already set up and upon complaint or discovery should deal with it under their rules. But the referee is not a part of this problem unless she failed to report a caution shown.