Question Number: 30087

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/7/2016

RE: Rec Adult

russell of Sydney, Australia asks...

In a match of good quality passing football, a mid fielder from the Blue team is not happy with a few of your calls, in particular, one that leads to team reds opening goal a minute before you call time for 'oranges'
As you are walking off, the midfielder engages you in debate about the call, and implies favouritism in your decision making.
While you respect the players passion for how they play the game, you advise the player that you view his comments in such as way that if he wishes to continue with that line of commentary, that he is likely to be seeing red.
Still needing to make a point that his commentary is not acceptable, you issue a yellow for dissent.
The manager of the player approaches you as you are leaving the field and you advise that you downgraded the card to a yellow for dissent when a red would not be out of order, and ask him to have a quiet word with the player, as after all, this is just park footy - not the WC. The manager, appears comfortable with the yellow and acknowledges the player can be 'a little too passionate at times'.
The second half begins with team Blue taking the kick and play the ball immediately to the midfielder, who is only metres from you and under no pressure form his opponents, smashes the ball in your direction (almost sideways and completely out of context of normal play), however, you manage to duck out of the way as the ball then sails to the sideline.
You feel the player has just taken a 'pot shot' at you, but of course, we cannot read minds nor rule on possible intentions. Still, you feel for sure, he was trying to smack that ball into you.
Putting aside the issue that maybe the card should have been red, in this instance, where you feel certain of misconduct like this in these circumstances, what should a ref do.
In this instance, I simply gave the player a long cold silent stare, then turned and signalled for a TI to the red team. The throw location was close to the benches, so i moved that way and then gave a similar look to the manager.
Had the ball hit me, I would have had the red card out.
But as it did not hit me, so I am interested to know if I would have been in my right to issue a red anyway, knowing the player could argue something like, 'i was just clearing the ball and miss hit it'.

For the record, play resumed and there was no further 'incidents'. Team red won the match, and the player in question by seasons end (after two more appointment to his teams matches) was happy to engage in more playful banter and shake hands at the end of the match - something that certainly would not have happened in the initial match.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
Not an easy situation. If the referee is certain that the attempt was to hit the referee with a deliberate shot of the ball and that if had to be, given the out of context play, then it is certainly a red card even if the ball makes contact or not. As you say referees are not mind readers and we need to be 110% certain of the intent as we have to write a report. It is also a very serious offence and one that may result in serious sanction for the player. So it is not a decision to be made lightly. Could it be argued that the player thought that there should have been a team mate in the location he kicked it towards or that he mis kicked it. We have all seen what turned out to be stupid play in games where a ball is played to a location where the player thought a team mate should be.
If the referee is absolutely certain that the kick was directed at him then the player should be dismissed for violent conduct whether the ball hits or not.
Now I would have probably done what you did. I once had a player brush past me heavily in a game a few seasons ago and I was not sure if my movement contributed to the contact. I had a sneaking suspicion that I did not yet I was not sure so I did nothing. The player got zero tolerance from there on and in your case the player could easily pick up a 2nd caution in the game. It certainly will be a less contentious dismissal and one that would be extremely difficult to protest. In this part of the world VC against the referee carries a minimum of one year suspension so you can imagine how serious the offence is and one that we need to be watertight on.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Russell,
perception, the seeing of the intention of a possible deliberate act that might not be deliberate or what we thought or is exactly what we thought. Got to love the ambiguity of human nature to evaluate the mindsets of a physical action taken by others as we try to come to terms with out interpretation of the events. The fact you had a dust up earlier can colour or taint your view of a 2ndary incident as we apply logic and circumstantial evidence. Even good people make rash decisions, poor challenges and lose their temper or composure but you need to certain if you are sending a player off for an attempt to strike you in such a manner as it could lead to serious repercussions including lifetime bans .

Personally I like a direct approach , 'Was that directed at me to send a message of some sort?' Your long cold stare maybe effective did he engage or look away.? I might even comment to the manager that player is on very thin ice if that attempt was directed at me.'

Given how it turned out. hard to fault your decision. If the ball had hit you do you think you could give that player the same benefit? If he said it was a total accident? If he apologised?

I have been struck on rare occasions by a clearing ball that catches me in a poor position but my worst collision, was a defender who creamed me from behind as the striker used me as a pick. I was less than happy because the defender was a mouthy pain at the best of times. When I do find myself in traffic I try to freeze if I can not effectively slip out of the way in any clear direction. In this case I was shuffling to back up as the ball was crossing in front of me. The striker just skimmed by on my right side but the following defender caught me hard in the back and side The defender did apologize profusely but made mention that I stepped back into him several times. I did ask my AR who was uncertain it was deliberate. Thus he got a free pass and I was very sore for the next two days. You can not accuse a player unless you are 101% certain I was willing to believe he was not as sorry as he proclaimed but I could not rule out that I contributed to the impact by backing up.

Not that this is relevant here but in the youth teen matches 12 to 19 I often mention to the coaches when their on field player , seething after say being shown a card or had a PK awarded against their team for a poor challenge by them. I will point out to the Coach ,A heads up # 12 he is very agitated, looking likely to do something rash just saying! In fact often youth leagues particularly school teams have a mandatory short sit out for a yellow card just because of the testosterone elevation in play.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Russell,

It sounds like you handled the first part of it quite well and did you best to manage the situation without being too lenient.

In the scenario where a player has attempted to strike you (whether with the ball or not), you are certainly entitled to issue a red card for violent conduct. The fact that he did it with the ball while in play doesn't necessarily absolve him of this - if, for instance, there was absolutely no reason to send the ball your way and you know it was aimed at yourself. The fact that the ball is in play doesn't give him free reign to use it to attack the referee.

Of course the player will use the argument that he was just clearing it or some such - that's why he did it on the field. As the referee on the day, you don't need to accept that argument.

I've had the same scenario myself but it was a keeper in Futsal who threw the ball at me. I made do with a glare and a stern word - my only justification for not sending him off was that I wasn't looking directly at him so maybe it had simply slipped out of his hand as he threw it.....I knew in my gut that wasn't the case and it's a decision I know I got wrong. It's quite a serious offence attempting to strike the referee.