Question Number: 29743

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/27/2015

RE: Competitive Under 17

Aaron Speca of Virginia Beach, Virginia United States asks...

I have a pretty good look at this one because I snagged a video from another parent who was recording the same play from a closer and different angle. Two parts to the play.

1) Blue defender steals the ball away from red player in the corner, starts to dribble away and is slide tackled from behind. No call on the field.

2) As play continues, ball is passed across the box to red, blue #11 eventually reaches in with her foot to knock the ball away and is called for a foul.

To me:

#1 is a foul and potentially a yellow card.

#2 could go either way, I'm still not sure about it. (but the play never should have gotten that far)

Looking forward to your insights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rQws3Sy3Cc

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
Thanks for the video and the question.
In the first challenge it is certainly a foul as the Red player made no contact with the ball and fouls Blue in what could also result in a caution perhaps based on the *feel* for the foul as videos don't convey that, previous incidents involving the player, the mood of the game etc. I could live with no caution here. The referee should have used the tell tale sign of the ball not moving to see that Red did not in fact did not make contact with the ball just the opponent.
On the second one it is a careless trip by Blue on Red which is a free kick only.
Looking at the video it seems to me that angle of view of the referee may have caused his difficulty in not identifying the first foul while he a perfect view of the second. He is much too central with little movement and perhaps Blue may have obscured Red.
As an aside for the purist the AR uses the wrong hand to signal the foul. The flag should have been in the right hand rather than crossing the left arm across the chest.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Arron,
The blue player after making a good defensive play to strip the ball off of red got a pretty good whack in retaliation. Certainly looked to be a foul, however, I am not 100% sold on the need to caution it as reckless? By itself it was definitely careless and IF cautionable more so if the referee had perhaps spoken to the player earlier about sweeping opponents off their feet or aggressive play to set the bar perhaps. As you correctly inferred, since play should be stopped but was not, the other foul was kind of light. The AR mechanics very poor and the intensity of the CR made me wonder a bit at his ability to stay with play. He kind of looked to be strolling about centre in a very relaxed mode. He did appear to be glancing back at the first downed blue player prior to the AR flagging. So perhaps he too was thinking hmmm I might have missed something? lol
Cheers

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