Question Number: 31170

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/11/2017

RE: REC High School

Salvador of Indianapolis, IN USA asks...

If a defender is running from behind an attacker. The attacker has the ball and then the defender slide tackles from the side and pokes the ball, but at the same time hits the attacker's side knee. Would you call it a foul?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Difficult to say. If the ball was cleanly played and then there was a coming together then there would be no foul. However if the contact on the players knee was first or the challenge was in a careless / reckless manner then it is a foul.
So by the very nature of the slide challenges most times there is going to be contact. As long as that contact is not reckless and its not a challenge where the player intention is to take ball and player together then incidental contact is never going to be called as a foul.
Here is a compilation of sliding tackle challenges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cMg8pPWOrs
You will note that many involve contact AFTER the ball has been played. In your scenario the test will determining if the contact on the knee happened before the contact on the ball (foul) or an incidental coming together after the ball was played.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Salvador,
how is this slide tackle hitting the knee with his body or studs? A reach across tackle can knock knee to knee but a slide tackle, the free leg as well as the stiff leg pushing the ball away best be low to the ground and not raised up in the air? A slide tackle that contacts the ball because it is out in front to knock away and the opponent simply falls into or o top of is far different then a slide tackle that wipes out the player by folding his knees under? As in any foul recognition we need to assess each incident in context to be easily recognized for what actually is occurring. Without visual aids it is very difficult to make words into pictures. The acronym ITOOTR is subject to much scrutiny in every collision.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Salvador,
This question raises almost the same issues as the slightly earlier question 31168, where a slide tackling player makes contact with both the ball and the player. In that question the tackling player took the ball first before contacting the opponent, here the contact is simultaneous.

In answer to the previous question, I and all my colleagues made the point that getting the ball is no excuse for making a foul tackle, even when the ball is taken first. That is even more true when the ball and player are taken at the same time.

So while there is a possibility that a referee might decide a tackle which contacts ball and player simultaneously was not a foul, I would say that in the majority of cases it probably would be seen as at least careless and therefore an offence.

For me, about the only way this would not be a foul would be if the tackle were done in a careful enough manner to ensure that the contact with the attacker's knee was absolutely minimal and did not in any way affect the opponent.

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

See Question: 31173