Question Number: 30135

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/22/2016

RE: Professional Adult

Arkady English of Wimbledon, London United Kingdom asks...

Salih Dursun was recently shown the red card and sent off for picking up the referee's red card, and 'sending off' the referee. This was in protest of another red card his team had just received.

(A video and description of the incident is here: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/trabzonspor-player-salih-dursun-sent-off-for-showing-red-card-to-referee-a6888671.html)

I can see that this is dissent, but that only merits a caution. Assuming Dursun didn't use foul and abuse language as he acted, why did the referee send him off?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi
Ask yourself how did that card wind up on the ground? It looks like he reached under the player's arm standing front to screen himself and slapped/pulled the card away then picked it up? It goes beyond dissent into abuse at that point. If the referee had dropped the card while trying to put it back in his pocket and a player picked it up and shows it as a form of disrespect then perhaps a caution might fit. Also the fact that card is recovered by the referee and he has it out already just easier to show it again? lol If you look at the player he FULLY expected to be gone. He just wanted the satisfaction of a in your face moment!
Looks like it was a tough match, glad I was not the guy in the middle for that one!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Arkady
I believe the video does not show the total picture of what happened. It looks to me that the player may have reached in to grab the card out of the referees hand, knocked it to the ground, picked it up and then showed it to the referee. That is certainly a red card offence for offensive insulting and abusive behaviour and it was certainly was not done jokingly as suggested by some media
In the US Seattle Sounders striker Clint Dempsey has been banned from the US Open Cup for at least two years after an incident in which he was sent off for ripping up a referee's yellow card.
The United States Soccer Federation said in a statement that Dempsey had been banned for 'a total of six US Open Cup matches or the next two years of US Open Cup competition, whichever is greater. In addition, Dempsey had been fined an undisclosed amount.
So interfering with a referee is a serious matter. We have seen incidents where players jokingly picked up dropped cards to show to the referee. That is entirely different from a deliberate action and referee can take a dim view of it with a caution for dissent. Here is an example.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7iYeifVvAV0
Here are some other serious examples of sending offs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XDPQl5_axIQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WIiaXWq1KHY

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Arkady,
Most referees would consider a player grabbing the card out of the referee's hand to be violent conduct. It may not be 'violent' in the colloquial sense, but there's a sense that such an act is so grossly against the spirit of the game and the necessity of the referee's authority that fitting it into a red card offence (even if it barely fits) seems the only reasonable option. It fits within the spirit of the game. Just like how manhandling the referee will result in a red card, but isn't necessarily violent. Or perhaps the act of stealing the card forms an abusive gesture?

Well, should result in a red card - it was concerning to see just how much that referee was pushed and manhandled in that incident. I can only guess that it seems to have become the accepted behaviour in that league.

If the card was on the ground and the player just picked it up and showed it, the referee could decide whether it constitutes dissent, or whether it is an offensive, insulting and/or abusive gesture. I certainly would not argue with any referee who wanted to make that interpretation.