Question Number: 29758

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/30/2015

RE: Competitive Under 16

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

This question is a follow up to question 29743

Same match ... play at the end was called a foul and a yellow card. This to me seems less severe (if even a foul because she did get contact with the ball and both players were moving).

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

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Aaron,
hmmm charging is likely the call, it did catch the red player a bit in behind the shoulders but I agree it is not a reckless act, the blue player is simply more, ahem, SOLID, she was clearly attempting to play the ball and was far better braced for the impact, a free kick solves this.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
Taken in isolation this was a free kick for charging in a careless manner. It does look like the player attempted to play the ball although that may not be so obvious from the referees angle of view particularly when the Red players looks like she got a charge high into the back. Now the question is how does this challenge escalate into a caution as well.
I might suggest a number of reason
1. Persistent infringement by the Blue player
2. The Blue player was already spoken to previously by the referee.
3. The Red player has been the subject of targeted heavy challenges.
4. Both Red and Blue had words / confronted each other previously.
5. Mood of the game.
Sometimes the referee may also caution to *keep a lid * on the game and the player was just unlucky to be the player that committed the next foul.

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

See Question: 29763