Question Number: 22059

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/23/2009

RE: Under 15

Kirk of Santa Barbara, CA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 22014

I respectfully ask for some clarification on the nature of a fair charge. The offending coach was certainly bad enough, but the kind of charge described in the original question tends to cause a lot of angst on the field.

If one reviews the facts very carefully, the defender was on an angled run and was running faster that the attacker. That means that just prior to the moment of impact, the defender either had to pull up a little and get under control or was likely to bowl over the attacker. That's where my uncertainty rests. I think there is a big difference between hard, side-by-side jostling with the shoulders, on the one hand, and using the shoulder as a battering ram even if the target is the opponent's shoulder.

I would agree that most times an unfair charge is accompanied by other body movements oftentimes used in U.S. football (like a forearm shiver), but that is not always the case. Does it just come down to the referee's judgment of what is careless, reckless, or using excessive force?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kirk
For me a fair charge has to contain the following
1. Ball has to be within playing distance of both players
2. It has to be shoulder to shoulder. Clearly it cannot be to the chest or back of the opponent
3. The charge cannot be violent or using excessive force. If it knocks the player over and a distance then that is unfair and should be penalised.
4. The arm cannot be used as a lever.

The word I like to describe a fair charge is 'to ease' the player off/away from the ball

The difficulty at underage usually is where players are mismatched and the stronger players knocks the player over. It is then the judgement call of the referee.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Any foul is always a judgment call by the referee.

The referee will/should take into account the age and skill level of the players, the conditions at the field, and if relevant, previous experience with either team.

The experience of the referee will also factor into decisions. A referee with several years of experience and experience at various levels of play will do a better job of judging fair from foul, normally. There is no way to get to that point without lots of games and through making mistakes.

New referees tend to over call games, finding fouls where there aren't any and under calling the more subtle, aggravating fouls.

A referee who does mostly skilled and upper age games will typically under call physical challenges, because at the level normally refereed, players play through those without looking for a call, and will be upset if the referee calls every bump and grind.

Most of the time, with experience, your gut tells you whether it was a fair charge or not. We can spend all day describing it, but until you can SEE it, it is just words.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Kirk - you are right that these incidents do cause quite a bit of angst on the field. That's why we need to be clear and confident in our decisions, and have the courage to make the decision we believe is correct instead of making the easy decision and going with what the players seem to want.

Charging is a difficult one, and largely I think it comes down to feel and experience.

When I was a younger referee, officiating mainly on youth games I adopted a rule of thumb - if I think the player is simply trying to move for the ball (albeit physically), then it will often be fair. If I think he's trying to charge the player off the ball, then he probably hasn't played fairly.

The fact that the defender was running faster than the attacker isn't necessarily an issue - after all, if he wasn't running faster he wouldn't have caught him, although the speed difference can be a relevant factor.

If he angled in from behind, the referee needs to carefully look to see if the charge came from behind the attacker's shoulder, because this is still a foul.