Question Number: 31240

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/8/2017

RE: Rec Adult

Saul of Chicago, IL USA asks...

Attacker in the penalty area on a break away and past the goal keeper goes past the goal line and off the field about 4 yards carried by his momentum. When he attempts to come back in to score an obvious goal since the ball is sitting inches from goal and he's the closest to the ball a defender purposely goes off the field past the goal line and trips the attacker off the field (about 2 yards from the goal line). According to the new amendments to the laws, if two players go off the field during the course of play and this happens then it's a PK, but in this case, the defender purposely goes after the attacker (DOGSO), so Indirect kick or PK.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Saul
The correct decision is a dismissal for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity and the restart is a penalty kick. That assumes that had the attacker returned he would probably have scored. I think in reality the defender will go to the ball rather than the attacker.
The updated Law12 tells us that if a player leaves the field of play as part of play and commits an offence against another player, play is restarted with a free kick taken on the boundary line nearest to where the offence occurred and for direct free kick offences a penalty kick is awarded if this is within the offenders penalty area. So in this case we can assume the action by the defender was part of play and as the restart would have been inside the penalty area then a penalty kick is the correct restart

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Saul,
in the olden days it was drop ball lol then it was indfk now it is a PK and a sending off which was what we said it should be (although it was not yet in force) those many years ago when this question was first asked. lol Your description states it occurs close to the goal thus the 18 yard penalty area is the area of the field that we consider and as such the DFK action upgrades to PK status and the fact the action denies a obvious opportunity the red card is the correct colour!.
IF the incident occurred further away say outside the PA over on the goal line say 5 yards from the corner flag THEN it is but DFK and likely only a caution for USB.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Saul,

This has now been updated to be a foul on the nearest line to where the incident occurred - so being a DFK next to the PA, that makes it a PK.

From there, you can consider DOGSO. Bearing in mind that the attacker doesn't already need to be in possession but would have a good chance of gaining possession and have an OGSO when he does.

Sounds like this would be DOGSO and a PK - as by your description it is not a genuine attempt on the ball by the defender.

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

See Question: 31243