Question Number: 30129

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/21/2016

RE: pro College

Samuel of brazil, brazil asks...

in a soccer game a player from team A was giving 2 yellow cards but the ref didn't send him off, after 7 minutes the ref realized his mistake and gave that player a 3ed yellow card followed by a red card and sent him off, the score was 1-1 to the end of the match. so if the ref did his job right and sent the player off after the 2nd yellow card the other team would have advantage playing against a team with only 10 players and might have won. so since the ref mistake affected the game can team B ask for a replay or a rematch?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Samuel
This very event happened in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Referee Graham Poll issued three yellow cards to Croatian defender Josip Simunic in a first-round game against Australia and failed to send the player off on the 2nd card. As it made no difference to the outcome of the group the matter was ignored except that Referee Poll took no further part in the tournament.
Now it was a clear error in Law so it was protestable and most likely to be upheld provided the referee confirms same. Now there can be confusion in the issuing of cards. Was the player from Team A actually cautioned a second time? Will the referee confirm that?. Could he confirm that he withdrew the 2nd card after careful consideration. Was the card shown to another player? Did the referee realise his mistake and then rectify it a short time later which then requires the League to decide whether the length of time involved was sufficient or not to uphold an appeal. Some appeal bodies could be of the view that a short period of x minutes did not constitute sufficient impact to order a replay particularly if no significant event happened during that time such as a goal. Ultimately it is a matter for the League to decide.
Also the outcome of any appeal will hinge totally on the referees report and what is contained in that. One might also find that any appeal has to be made within some many hours perhaps 48/72 otherwise it is not valid.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Samuel,
ah yes the 3 card brain cramp where possibly one of the best referees in the world during a 2006 World Cup group match between Croatia and Australia (2-2), English referee Graham Poll showed Croatian defender #3 Josip Simunic three yellow cards. Poll failed to send off Simunic for a second yellow card, because in the 89th minute when he produced the 2nd yellow, Poll wrote down the right jersey number but under the wrong name. He had inadvertently given the yellow to the Australian number 3, Craig Moore. After second yellow card, Simunic realised that the referee had not shown him a red card and he stayed on the pitch until Poll sending him off showed him red card after a 3rd yellow for dissent at the final whistle.

It is a credit to Mr Poll he did not choose to share his blame with his ARS or 4th official. As a CR it is wise to share your actions with the team. Radio makes this easier but even without I would recommend you shout out #3 red and white Simunic booked 61st minute, RT, than in the 89th minute again #3 red and white Simunic booked 89th minute your guys on the touchline are going hey hey hey thats 2 there Poll ole buddy got to get him out of there! The Oh crap what I wrote it down wrong gets fixed! Out comes a momentarily delayed red before the restart
If you accidentally shout out # 3 yellow Craig Moore booked 89th minute KNOWING it was the Croatian player a LIGHT BULB has to go off in YOUR head as your official team could be confused as to whom you showed a card to on the field but given you are generally facing the guy and using the card to indicate you might get a hey what? why is the free kick going Australia's way? Finally in the 93rd minute when Poll dragged out the 3rd yellow and it sunk in what had transpired there was no rock was big enough to hide under or no hole deep enough to drop out of sight. Yup it was a tough match 9 yellows 3 reds but the lapse of attention in a crucial detail undid 25 years of preparation to get to that stage

The fact the referee has erred under the LOTG provide sufficient reason to protest although there are timelines and costs associated with doing so. These are outlined in the ROC bylaws but often the league will simply take punitive action on there own if such an error comes to light via a match report alone. At the WC there was no action taken given they believed the timeline was not going to change the result or the standings in group F with Brazil and Australia going through. Unfortunately Mr Poll was retired from the competition.
My colleague Ref McHugh sagely points out the match report will be the version of truth they will likely look at to decide if the match requires a replay or an alteration of sorts.
If you think a replay where you MIGHT lose is better than a tie get the protest in!
Cheers

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