Question Number: 31647

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/20/2017

RE: Rec Adult

MARV of Bowmanville, Ontario Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 31646

I am extremely confused. The LOTG defines the word 'offence' as 'an action which/breaks/infringes/violates the LOTG...'.

In the LOTG Details of all Law Changes Section 12.15 indicates that if the ball is in play and a player commits an offence inside the field of play against a match official

Old Text: IDFK

New Text : DFK or PK

Even the adjacent explanation states 'The punishment...sends out a weak /poor message if an offence against a match official is only an IDFK.'

Followup question...Are you aware of any other areas of the LOTG where the restart is contrary to the way the Law is written?

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Marv,
There have always been (and probably always will be) parts of the law that are ambiguous, poorly written and/or slightly contradictory. Before the law change that you're referring was even published as part of the 2016-17 update, the IFAB had apparently realised they had failed to make it clear that the provision saying that various offences against a match official would result in a direct free kick (or penalty) was only meant to apply to physical offences, so at the same time as the laws were published, they included the FAQ I mentioned in my earlier response, to clarify that the 'offences' referred to in this section of law 12 meant only physical offences and did not apply to dissent, which would still result in an indirect free kick.

In the 2017-18 edition, they made it even clearer. On page 98 of the LotG, 2017-18 edition it states that:

''An indirect free kick is awarded if a player:
[...] is guilty of dissent, using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures or other verbal offences''

The explanation for this additional clause states:

''Clarifies that verbal/gesture offences are punished with an indirect free kick even if there is a caution (YC) or sending-off (RC); some have wrongly interpreted the direct free kick for a 'offences against a match official' to include dissent etc. but it only applies to physical offences.'' So I wouldn't say the restart is contrary to what the laws say, since they say the restart for dissent is an IFK.

This additional clause and its explanation, along with the previously-mentioned FAQ that clarifies that 'offences against a match official' does not include dissent, firmly establishes that the restart after dissent is an indirect free kick.

Incidentally, I think you are looking at last year's edition of the Laws. There is no section 12.15 in the Details of all Laws Changes in the current 2017-18 edition.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Marv
As I stated in my previous answer you were not alone in the incorrect interpretation of this. IFAB, as Referee Grove has outlined, had to spell out the restart as an IDFK to deal with this confusion and also add the question to one of its Frequently Asked Questions that IFAB was getting from referees. See Q6 on this IFAB link
http://theifab.com/laws/fouls-and-misconduct/chapters/fouls-and-misconduct-faq
I am not sure why IFAB got so animated about physical offences against match officials as it is pretty rare offence. In our part of the world physical offences against match officials are rare, mostly happen when the ball is out of play and results in an abandonment so the restart is mute. The unfortunate consequence was that it required clarification to dispel the confusion which is never good.
As regards other areas of confusion I believe that offences committed off the field of play has a number of possible ambiguities and needs to be studied carefully. There are the three restarts present for such offences depending on who, where , against whom and how the offence was committed. In addition the location of the restart can be on the sideline or where the ball was when play was stopped.
Another one was the ball being kicked backwards at a kick off. To do that the kicker had to have part of his body over the line. That was not spelled out clearly so the LotG on kick offs was amended this year to read
** all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play**.
Our association had a recert question in May on this based on the literal interpretation of the *old* law and its view was that the player could not be in the opponents half before kick off! We know that it was allowed to happen and it is now clearly spelt out in the 2017 Laws