Question Number: 16981

Law 1- The Field 9/29/2007

RE: AYSO Under 15

Gary Graves of Chula Vista, CA USA asks...

One of my players was yellow carded on a corner kick for touching the corner flag stick. Is the a foul and worthy of a yellow card?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The flag may not be moved out of the player's way. You take a corner kick with the flag in place, and work around it. If the flag is obviously misplaced - say leaning a lot - you could ask the ref if you can correct it before taking the kick.

It is not a foul, but could be misconduct. I'd probably keep the yellow card in my pocket unless the flag is (re)moved a second time.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Gary,
as my colleague Ref Voshol points out it is a form of misconduct (not a foul)and could be cautionable if the action was USB in the opinion of the referee. I will assume this was done on a corner kick restart if so the corner kick is still the restart . However if done in active play as misconduct, restart from where the ball was when the flag was fooled with.
I have seen players use the flag and whip it or bend it to hurt an opponent in both active play and during a restart,. While both are misconduct and both in my opinion red card send off offences one is indfk from ball location the other the restart remains the same.

If the flag was pulled out and tossed aside even as a first time incident it could qualify as an acceptable caution.
In my opinion a caution for a touch is unneccessary and extreme unless done specifically in defiance of a referee asking to not do so!
A stern warning and a bit of reality in fixing the flag, if the flag is totally askew is a better approach.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The referee must have viewed this as misconduct, unsporting behavior. The question I would ask of you is did the referee tell your player not to hold the flag and he did it anyway?