Question Number: 29918

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/14/2015

RE: Other

Aaron of Houston, TX United States asks...

Is a headkick, deliberate or not, an automatic red card?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
Do you mean scissor kick or bicycle kick. Well it is a matter of judgement. It is certainly reckless when the player makes contact with an opponents head which is a caution and if it was done endangering the safety of an opponent then that is serious foul play.
The only time I have seen a player sent off for this was in a CL game at Arsenal and the incident happened at midfield in a challenge for the ball. In the penalty area it can be expected somewhat and perhaps more benefit is given to the kicker.
Now whether it gets elevated to a dismissal depends on factors that the referee takes into account such as whether it was foolhardy and did the player know the risk and high probablility of injuring an opponent. In the Arsenal incident where Robin Van Persie got dismissed for a high kick into the head of an opponent in the Champions League while playing for Arsenal against Thun FC this is what the Arsenal manager said about the incident
'' 'He (Van Persie) got a high ball, and never saw the opponent, never looked somewhere else than at the ball - it was an accident. For me, it is never a red card.''
This is what the Thun manager said.
''I thought it was unlucky, 'I said to my player 'that was pretty hard' - but Ljubo does have a black eye and you can see stud marks, so from that point of view, it was a red card. But I would not say Van Persie did it on purpose.'''
The referee when he weighed up all the circumstances felt that Van Persie had endangered the safety of an opponent which is a dismissal. Perhaps another referee might just go with a caution. By the way Arsenal did not appeal the one game ban that was given by UEFA to Van Persie for the sending off for serious foul play.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4250542.stm

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Aaron,
any action undertaken by a player on the field of play that affects the safety of an opponent will be looked at in context of how and why and what occurs.

Any high boot be it a simple knock down of the ball or a spectacular over the head scissor kick. If that foot winds up implanted on an opposing player's face or chest or back before or after the ball is knocked away if at all, chances are it is FAR more than just PIADM (playing in a dangerous manner ) which is punishable by an INDFK but as such involves NO contact! Once there is CONTACT the official have to decide if this contact has any of the prerequisites for a foul
.
Fouls are often adjudged as careless, reckless or excessive, note the words INTENTIONAL or ACCIDENTAL are not used to describe a foul. Yet too sometimes players will do certain things that have devastating results yet the official might see no true foul but a set of exceptionally bad luck decisions.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2478781/John-Terry-kicked-head-Abou-Diaby--Andy-Hooper-picture.html

I recall the 2007 League Cup final, there was a clearance of a ball being booted by a defender Abou-Diaby , the leg was swung to kick the ball out of danger ! The attacker John Terry from Chelsea had leaned in and down to head the ball, the boot catches the player in the head and he immediately drops as if shot! The defender was in tears, the attacker created this by his actions more so than a defender trying to simply defend by kicking a ball.

Looking at the picture it seems as if red is the ONLY colour but the referee was 100% correct to show NOTHING the action of the defender was not careless, reckless or excessive just unfortunate! Terry decided to put his head right where it could get kicked .

In the Arsenal match we have a different view in the actions of the player did in fact discount the probability of a nearby opponent in a manner deemed as an excessive challenge thus show a red card and off he goes! The opinion being that the player who received the kick in the face was likely the better positioned of the two to realistically play the ball safely
Cheers