Question Number: 30645

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/3/2016

RE: Rec Adult

russell of Sydney, Australia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30640

Following on from the question from Bob of DC regarding jumping fouls, this is an area that I too can often struggle with, or at least, the players struggle with my call / no call of these situations :)

Like Bob, I need to evaluate if it is a foul by the attacker, or the defender, or no foul at all as sometimes the laws of movement just play out a certain way.

I find that often the defender is first to jump and so in a way has the lead (or position of strength in a way). Often, they appear to head the ball first, and THEN there is body contact from either coming down in a forward motion, or the defender jumping/moving late.

Ref McHugh said 'Many times the player from behind will jump a tad early which then allows him to lean into the opponent preventing him from jumping.' is Ref McHugh saying the 'preventing' is a foul, or just what happens. I'm not sure which way to interpret his comment. Is the 'preventing a 'deliberate' action, or just something that happens because he occupies a place first. I suspect he means a foul.

If a defender jumps, heads the ball, and then comes down on the defender - Is it a 'charge', or 'jumps at' scenario, or just bodies that come together? No doubt each jump and coming together needs to be judged independently.

Often the defender leaps rather high, heads the ball, and then has their lower body contact the upper body of the attacker. The attacker starts yelling 'so are we allowed to jump into each other?'

If the attacker was dead stationary, then there is room to suggest a foul, but what if the attacker is moving.

Sometimes I consider applying the deliberate HB approach on these " was it the defender going into the attacker, or the attacker moving into the defender.

This jumping (and most typically defender v attacker) is the area i still need experience on. Dose not seem to be an issue in the midfield, and unsurprisingly, very often an issue right on the edge of the PA.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
If I had a dollar for every time I heard *In the back Ref* I would gave a nice tidy sum of money. The game involves contact so not all contact in the back is illegal.
You make the good point of describing the action of the defender that jumps in a way that prevents the opponent from jumping. That can be the use of an arm to hold down or for leverage to gain height. Both are fouls and must be called.
In respect of the preventing comment what I meant was that the defenders uses his body instead of his arms to prevent the forward from jumping which looks like the defender leaning his chest in over the top of the shoulders of the attacker. That can be a foul although it can be a tricky one. The referee also has to be aware of the astute attacker who does not jump yet in fact dips to cause this and it looks then like a foul by the defender. I recall one particular incident last season when an attacker inside the penalty area went down easily in such a circumstance looking for a penalty. I knew immediately it was contact that the forward knew was going to happen and he made the most of it by dipping to exaggerate the contact. I did not oblige calling it as a foul.
In general I go back to the point of looking for the illegal use of the arms as the main offence in such situations. There are always going to be appeals for fouls by attackers in their backs. Many of those are rarely fouls. Neither is the situation of a clear header followed by incidental contact on the opponent. That us simply a coming together after the ball has gone. The obvious caveat is the situation where the player heads the ball and then on his follow through shows a complete disregard for his opponent who he makes contact with recklessly. That is a foul and a caution. He will say that he got the ball yet it is no different from the tackle that plays the ball first yet also recklessly plays the opponent as well afterwards on the follow through.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Russel,
there is no doubt when a player jumps as he moves forward or backwards versus jumping and going straight up it creates problems.
Each player maybe aware of the other and seek to push or hold off the other by a careful manipulation of the arms to create a separation or at the other end of the spectrum a get out of the way force that we recognize as untenable or the 'My ball express' where either player disregard's his or the opponent's safety in the zeal for ball possession.

When the attacker is running forward or backing up, for an incoming ball delivery over his head, while following the ball flight he is not always aware of the opponent as often his head is turned. If his opponent is positioned in behind him and set on his piece of ground ready to rise he could get undercut and thus the foul could be awarded against the moving attacker .

A defending player who say JUMPS into the air first and is behind an attacker often places out the arms to ward off the backing in opponent and is NOT seeking to foul but protect from a collision. The issue the defender's arms can hold down the attacker from getting off the ground easily by pushing downward while he is getting upward momentum.
Of course the reverse can occur.
I recall Gareth Bale getting a goal off a headed in ball, he went up and the defender, who was in FRONT of him fell over as Garth's arms were out slightly in front of him PRIMARILY to separate or get height but certainly not to foul. YET the Referee /AR awarded a foul . In my opinion, there was no foul. Garth got separation, went up first and the defender, who backed into Bale felt the arm touching his back, continued back peddling while crouched down to simulate Bale coming over the top. The defender having permitted the separation was not quick enough to stop Garth who had excellent position and CLEARLY ,in my opinion , rose up and above but not over the defender .

Given THIS goal was disallowed it is obvious the line of sight and understanding of who has position , who is moving is fraught with inconsistencies.

The forward snap of the body to head or clear a ball from danger by a defender versus the attacker trying the same but in reverse can unfortunately create some ugly collisions. Getting to the ball FIRST certainly helps establish some credibility but climbing over the opponent to do so of course can create foul conditions. I think your idea of looking at each participant as a separate action based on WHO has the better position, WHO is moving, WHAT are their ARMS doing? WHERE are they looking? Does their actions relate ONLY to the BALL flight or are they aware of the opponent's positioning?

I had a men's Sunday match where the defender was a large fellow 6ft 6in who was very good in the air, got up well and at 250 lbs was not easily dissuaded from being knocked off his intended path. He rose high into the air in behind the much shorter attacker to clear his lines and literally leaned his top half of his body over top his attacking counterpart who tried to jump up and caught him square in the chin with the top of his head. Both wanted a foul on the other , although I held the thought the burly defender cleared the ball fairly, despite his chin being bounced off the top of the attacker's head, Both players had some blood flowing. I stopped play, awarding a drop ball restart. What would you award? I considered briefly if the defender had in fact played the ball in an unsafe manner as a PIADM given he took away the upward movement by leaning over his shorter opponent. Yet he had not held down his opponent up until his chin arriving at the top of the head. Was that a holding foul of him pressing down? Given he made contact with the ball on the upward movement, I felt this was just unfortunate contact in a contact sport.

Neither player was very happy that the other was not held accountable thus as referee I suspect I got it right. lol
Cheers