Question Number: 30316

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/18/2016

RE: Competitive Under 15

Mark Bukowski of Allison Park, PA USA asks...

To whom it may concern:

I have two questions about the Laws of the game and their application

1) Hand Ball - I was recently at a tournament where there were a number of incidents of hand ball that in the judgment of the referee(s) were not called. When questioned the Center referee stated that the multiple hand balls were not called as the player did not 'mean to' direct the ball with her hand/arm. While this might be the case if the player was trying to protect oneself or inadvertently when moving away from the ball, it would seem that if the player is moving towards the ball in a defensive manner, arms outstretched to increase her 'surface' area and her arms or hand are hit by the ball, this implies intent, and therefore handball should be called.

2) Charging - I have seen a very disturbing trend in youth soccer in the northeastern part of the US (this may be true in other areas as well but I have no data on this). On many increasing occasions I have seen defensive players 'run-up' the back of a offensive player when that offensive player is receiving the ball. While the ball is certainly open to challenge at all times, when challenged from behind and not around the player this would seem to create a dangerous challenge that should be considered misconduct or worse if done and an overly dangerous manner. Unfortunately in most youth soccer it is allowed and the game tends to devolve into a slug fest with more and more lower leg injuries resulting.

I want to make certain as I am working with teams I am interpreting the rule appropriately and while there is great variation in the application of the Laws of the Game, I want to make sure my teams are properly instructed

Thank you for your time and consideration

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
Probably the most difficult decision in the game at the moment for referees. Most if not all times that the ball strikes or hits a players hand or arm will provoke howls of handball. The referee has to determine if the action was deliberate or not. Some decisions will be easy where the players deliberately moved his hand towards the ball to move or propel it. At the other extreme is where the ball bounces up unexpectedly hitting the player unknowingly on the arm. That is not deliberate handling. The difficult ones are in the grey area between these two extremes. To help us this is what the Laws state
The following must be considered: # the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand) # the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball) # the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement # touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an infringement #. hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an infringement.
Now if a player raises his arm to assist in a charge down that is clearly a deliberate action of making the player bigger and assisting in stopping the ball. That has to be called as handling. Sometimes the point of contact can be missed at speed, sometimes in lower age groups the fear of the ball makes the player instinctively turn away, raise the arms and the ball hits the raised arm/s. That runs a high risk of being called yet many refs may give the benefit of no intent to the young player.
In respect of your challenge question IFAB and FIFA has been endeavouring to eliminate the challenge from the rear that makes heavy contact with an opponent. The game does not wish to eliminate the fair challenge from the rear where the player plays the ball cleanly without making contact on the opponent. What IFAB has said is that any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play which is a sending off offence. Now below that level of challenge will be the reckless one or the illegal charge from the rear. Those should certainly always be called as fouls and most likely to also result in a caution. It would be disconcerting to think that in an area identified by the governing bodies as requiring special attention that referees were allowing dangerous challenges to be the norm and not enforcing the law that IFAB / FIFA through USSF are demanding. In this part of the world such challenge attract howls of disapproval which makes it easy for referees to take action. When a referee has a chorus of loud shouts in such situation which results in a free kick and a card players quickly realise that such challenges are a no no.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mark.
First off congratulations for being a concerned coach. I enjoy reading your question because I can deduce the level of concern you have and the care you show. I referee but I also coach and play and am a big fan of the beautiful game so wearing many hats it does help to have perspective.

The foul known as handling the ball deliberately is a difficult one to assess consistently as it rests on an individual opinion of a fact of play. I hold the view it is called incorrectly far too often. Not to disagree with you but I hold that most times it is best uncalled. That is not to say though you are incorrect, The call can be to award a foul for nothing just as it can be ignoring one that should be called as either are incorrect assessments but as an opinion they can not be argued as a FACT of play.

Foul recognition is as much art as science and will depend on the angle of view and the experience one develops from countless matches be it directly participating or gleaning the insight of others by watching or being assessed.

We take the word intention out of the equation when dealing with fouls in that we are not mind readers, we punish the ACTION yet handling has a degree of leniency when it comes to such distinction. One can conclude even a involuntary deliberate action need not be called. A long ball that bounces directly in front of am unchallenged defending player. The ball rolls up his chest off his cheek down along his arm off his outstretched hand. One can say well he tried to play the ball deliberately, the ball rolled along his arm, that's a foul! Yet if this was defender 25 yards away from an opponent do we really think this was a deliberate effort to handle the ball? We have options of doubtful and trifling to choose NOT to punish what might be described as foul but we can determine it has no serious consequence to the match where awarding a free kick or PK for a dubious handling has such impact.

In youth the protection aspect is another dubious situation as we employee a more lenient degree of acceptance to youth then adult when the ball is struck at or towards a players vulnerable areas. In your assertion that the arms are wide and the intent of the player is to ensure if the ball does not strike his/her center mass it might contact the arm is again fraught with mind reading. We again tend to view this in a harsher light at PRO and adult but arms are designed to be away from the body, they swing there, they are for balance and in these natural positions they will get hit with the ball.

While you might complain about the CR in the match not awarding the foul , there appears to be a measure of consistency in his approach that might be the best thing you can hope for in such cases. The application of a single opinion is being fairly distributed to both teams. To use a baseball metaphor, he is not calling foul balls strikes and strikes as foul balls randomly.

My colleague Ref McHugh quotes the basic standards and criteria we try to apply to our foul recognition process. No matter what decision is rendered on this handles the ball deliberately in MOST cases there will be naysayers to every decision.


Charging is a foul and again the foul recognition sequences my colleague states for us to consider require careful evaluations that apparently are not being done in your general area ? Then you need to address this with the ROC and association these matches are being played under? Demand more assessments greater scrutiny, I suggest video matches, turn over evidence. Those in charge need to be aware of escalating violence created by poor foul recognition. Mind you a degree of acceptance for responsibility rests on the players themselves as well as the coaching staff.

We talk a lot about reckless and excessive behaviour and our the low tolerance for such but if the referees on the pitch are inexperienced or unaware or intimidated to not be calling these types of fouls only by instilling good habits, effective education, retraining, mentoring, monitoring and assessing protocols can fix them.

As a coach teach your kids to respect the position of the referee even if it is difficult to respect his character and approach on the field. Consider him as a field condition like the weather , the pitch surface or for that matter a moving dirt clod. They adapt to how he is calling a match. If he is permitting rougher play then guard yourself going into a challenge. It is a sad fact but players retaliate if they believe the referee is NOT looking after their safety or interests. I do not condone retaliation, even if I understand the why. Try to get the proper instructions from the league to those officiating. I suspect few referees set out to do a poor job but inattention, laziness and apathy is a character flaw if one assumes the CR position.

Cheers