Question Number: 31222

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/2/2017

RE: Rec High School

Salvador Flores of Indianapolis, IN USA asks...

I have a question about a play. What is the correct restart if a player fouls an opponent when the ball goes out of bounce? I had a keeper trip an opponent that had the ball just after the ball went out of bounce on purpose in a game I was refereeing. What is the correct restart?

I have another question. If there is an offside and the keeper comes out and fouls the player in the offside position in a reckless or excessive force and after the AR puts his flag up and the referee calls it. What would the referee do? Caution or send the keeper off.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Salvador,
The correct restart is either a corner kick goal kick or throw in depending on which boundary line the ball exited over and who last touched it. There is NO possibility of a foul once a ball has COMPLETELY exited the FOP as play is already over for that set of circumstances. Any punishable contact is not a foul but MISCONDUCT only. One can still be held accountable for the manner of the contact in the force used as well as the unsporting nature of the incident. The showing of a yellow card or even red card is still available as an option although I do see a number of misconduct actions where the defender gets in a decent whack just after the ball has exited with little reprimand almost as if getting thumped is punishment for not scoring lol Mind you IF the ball has not yet completely crossed the boundary line and the foul occurs even a split second before then you can award the free kick for the foul. No matter the ball was headed wide of the goal.


If the officials have ALREADY determined the OPP is involved in play then the restart will be an INDFK for the defenders but same as in the previous question, with the ball being out of play the additional contact is MISCONDUCT so cards can be shown, however, it will NOT alter the restart. Card colour will depend on the opinion of the referee as to the nature of the contact was it careless reckless or excessive?

If the OPP was NOT involved, if simply in an offside position then there is every possibility of a foul by the defender/keeper and a DFK or PK awarded to the attackers. The OPP cannot be attacked by the defenders thinking they will get the free INDFK for him being offside. Remember it is NOT an offence to be offside positioned.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Salvador
A foul cannot be committed when the ball is out of play. So the reason the ball is out of play is the restart. It does not however give a player a free pass at foul contact on an opponent. It is deemed to be misconduct and the referee can treat the contact the same way as he would do had the ball been in play. So it could be a strong word, it could be a caution for a challenge in a reckless manner or a sending off for use of excess force. The card though does not change the out of play restart. In an NFHS game the cautioned player must leave the field of play.
In your example it reads like the trip was careless only and therefore a word with the goalkeeper would be suffice. The restart is a goal kick or whatever reason the ball went out of bounds.
In a similar way referees always punish the infraction that happens first while the ball is in play. So in the offside situation play should be stopped for the offside offence and that is the correct restart. Like the ball being out of play it does not allow a player to act in a reckless or excessive force manner if there is a delay in stopping the game. Like the previous situation the referee will determine the actions of the player as if the ball was in play. So a word, caution of sending off as appropriate. The restart though is an IDFK for offside.
On these situations ARs should be alert to the possibility of collision or contact. An early flag is advisable to prevent that happening. It is never a good position to be in where a player has committed a carding offence and his team gets the free kick restart. It does happen although everything should be done to prevent it.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Salvador,
If I have understood your questions correctly, they both present more or less the same scenario. A player commits what would have been a foul if the ball were still in play, but at a time when the ball was already out of play.

As my colleagues have said, the restart would be based on the reason why the ball was not in play. In the case of the ball going over a boundary line before the foul, it would be a throw-in, goal kick or corner kick. In the second case, assuming the flag went up for offside and the referee agreed the player had committed an offside offence the restart would be an indirect free kick. Please note that in the offside scenario play would be considered to have stopped when the offside offence was committed, even though the whistle might not have sounded before the players collided.

In both cases the player who committed what would have been a foul can still be the subject of disciplinary sanctions including a card of whatever colour if appropriate.

The two scenarios of a player in an offside position who does or does not not commit an offside offence (as referred to by ref Dawson) coincident with a potential offence by an opponent was actually the subject of a FIFA Q&A a while back. Although the offence in the FIFA example was handling rather than a foul, the principles in the following answer would still apply.

''If, in the opinion of the referee, the player in the offside position should be penalised for being involved in active play, he will penalise the offside and restart the match with an indirect free kick.
However, if in the referee's opinion, the player should not be penalised for being involved in active play, a direct free kick, or a penalty kick, will be awarded against the player who handled the ball'' (or as in this case, committed a foul).