Question Number: 31038

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/20/2016

RE: Adult

Gonzalo Rodriguez of Tuscaloosa, Alabama United States asks...

Rule 3.5 states that the referee "punishes the more serious offense, in terms of action, restart, physical severity and tactical impact, when more than one offense occurs at the same time."

- Blue #10, a substitute sitting on the bench, enters the field of play without the referees permission while the ball is in play. Blue #10 commits a tactical handling offense in the midfield as soon as he enters. Both of these are cautionable offenses. What is the appropriate call?

According to the Grade 7 test (which I took yesterday) the Referee is to issue two cautions and send off the player at once. If the referee is only to punish the most serious offense, should the referee only issue one caution? Does the referee issue two cautions (one for illegal entry, one for the tactical handling offense) and send off the player?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Gonzalo,
first off congratulations for getting involved and taking the referee test.
There are very few simultaneous infractions that occur exactly at he same time. The double touch off a poor free kick or throw in that gets handled by the kicker to prevent the opponent from getting to the ball instead of kicked away is one. If the bench sitting substitute had simply entered illegally but say kicked the ball into touch rather than choosing to use his arms/hands then he would have been asked to leave after being shown a single yellow card! If you grasp that illegal entry and deliberately handling the ball is far more serious then illegal entry and kicking the ball you maybe on your way to understanding rule 3.5

The substitute sitting on the bench has committed TWO very distinct acts of misconduct according to the LOTG at two very distinct times. The entry onto the field is the FIRST act of misconduct. His choice to interfere in play by performing what would be a DFK or PK action and even possibly DOGSO as a player is his SECOND act of misconduct. (HOWEVER when a team official, substitute, substituted or sent off player illegally enters the FOP and their actions are the reason play is stopped , play restarts with a DFK direct free kick or PK penalty kick) The referee does not have to stop play immediately for the illegal entry as he could apply advantage if the opposing team has the ball. He might even wait a moment to see if the illegal handling created any opportunity for the opponents to get to the ball and possibly score. However, he would certainty send off the substitute once play was stopped for his continued one after the other misconductive actions. The two yellows followed by the red or even a direct red if the handling was DOGSO related.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Gonzalo
As described these are not simultaneous offences yet rather two separate and distinct offences each punished by a caution. The restart will be the more serious offence which will be the handling.
An example of a true simultaneous offence would be say a free kick where a player miskicks the ball and then he dives to handles the ball away from an opponent before it touched another player. The double touch offence and the handling happened together so the referee punishes the more serious one which is the handling. The player is also cautioned for USB whereas he would not be cautioned for the double touch. He could only be sent off if the offence denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
So in the example question the substitute is cautioned for entering the field of play without permission. That caution will happen whether the substitutes gets involved in play or not and could wait until the next stoppage in play. If play is stopped which obviously it had to be for handling the ball the substitute is also cautioned for that offence and the restart is a direct free kick. The team does not play short and the substitute is not available to participate in the game.
Just to be aware that the same would apply to a player in similar circumstances who is off the field of play with permission. The only difference is that if there was no handling and the player interfered with play the restart would be an IDFK from where the ball was when play was stopped after the caution for re-entering without permission.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 31041