Question Number: 23428

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/6/2010

RE: High School

John Moore of Chagrin Falls, OH United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 22883

What if the second foul is a cardable foul?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If two foul-type actions happen in succession as in Q#22883, only the first is a foul. The second action could be misconduct, in which case the player is cautioned or sent off.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The second 'foul' can't be a foul as play has stopped. The infraction can only be dealt with as misconduct and the player is either cautioned or sent off. In US High School soccer 2nd cautions bring a yellow/red card, which is a soft red, where the player does not have to sit out an additional game, and his team does not play short.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The second act is still punished as misconduct. If the retaliation is worthy of a caution, the referee will show the appropriate card. The restart, however, is based on the first act - the foul. The restart does not change because the second action is more severe than the first.

Thus, if the blue defender commits an impeding foul and the red attacker responds by striking the defender, the referee will send off the red attacker for the violent conduct. But, the restart will be an IFK for red, because of the blue defender's foul.

Note: this assumes that the referee both has seen the first infringement and has decided that the first infringement should not be ignored as a trifling/doubtful infringment. Unfortunately, sometimes the referee only sees the retaliation.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 23443