Question Number: 30591

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/11/2016

RE: Intermediate Under 13

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30588

I have a follow-up question to 30588. Law 12 talks about discipline for cautionary or sending off offenses against anyone. It then mentions violent conduct against a teammate, etc.

It then says the restarts can be DFK & INFK for offenses against teammates.

1) My first question is, are they talking only about cautionable & sending-off offenses only (with regard to teammates)?

Example: if Red pushes Blue in the penalty area to prevent Red from getting the ball it would normally be a PK (although pushing seemed to be universally ignored in the Euro games).

2) If a Blue defender pushed another defender to get to the ball, would that result in a PK?

3) What if the Blue defender unintentionally took out a teammate with a sliding tackle (i.e. reckless)?

Thanks in advance,

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil
This particular change to the Law is not as significant as one may think. What was previously an IDFK is now a direct free kick. So only the restart has changed nothing else. Fouls can only be committed against opponents so a team mate pushing a team mate is not a foul. It only becomes a direct free kick if the referee has occasion to stop the game to caution or send off a player for that action. Generally that would be in the case of violent conduct which involves the use of excessive force or brutality
So in the Q2 there is no offence and play on
In the case of Q3 again it is not a foul and if the referee believes that the reckless kick was intentional so as to injure a team mate then it is a red card and a direct free kick restart. It would be highly unusual and very difficult for the referee to determine the intention behind such an incident. I suspect it could only happen with a challenge involving an opponent as well in which case the referee may see it as accidental.