Question Number: 31646

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/19/2017

RE: REC Adult

MARV of Bowmanville, Ontario Canada asks...

I am the CR. During active play while the ball/play is near the centre circle, a defender in his own penalty area yells dissent toward the AR over a 'missed call' that took place seconds before.

An offence/misconduct has been directed toward a match official by a defender in his own penalty area. Under the recent law changes this is now a penalty kick.

Should I immediately whistle, issue the caution and award the PK in all competitions? What are your thoughts on this law change?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Marv
I am afraid you have got the restart decision wrong. One of the unwelcome consequences of poor wording of the major law revision in 2015 was that some referees thought that dissent or OFFINABUS was changed to a direct free kick offence. That is NOT the case and IFAB clarified that in subsequent FAQs on its website. It is only a physical offence against a match official that is punished by a DFK which thankfully is very rare.
So the restart here if play was stopped to caution the defender is an IDFK from the location of the offending player.
As play was in the centre circle I would suspect that an IDFK in the penalty area to the opponents of the offending team would be more advantageous so play should be stopped, the player cautioned and the IDFK awarded.
A word of caution. Please be very careful with some of these changes as had a penalty been awarded here it was grounds for a successful appeal for misapplication of the Laws. Some refs at the highest level have misinterpreted some of the changes and it has caused all sorts of problems. If in doubt please ask
BTW some of the Law changes are welcome although one of the issue facing the game is now confusion on some restarts such as where the offender is off the field of play which includes moving the ball and the restart to the sideline.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Marv,
As referee McHugh says, the restart for dissent is an indirect free kick not a penalty (or direct free kick).

This is made clear on the IFAB's website in the FAQ to Law 12 as follows:

''Q7: What is the restart if the referee stops play for dissent/offensive language etc.?
If the referee stops play to penalise a player for dissent/offensive language etc. the restart is an IDFK.''

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

See Question: 31647