Question Number: 31782

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/12/2017

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

This question is a follow up to question 31777

One more question, please. Someone can consider this situation as promising (SPA). Is it without a yellow card then? Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Petr,
are you asking if you award a PK is there a reason to not award a caution if it was not DOGSO? If say the player was dribbling the ball away from goal in the PA and the same foul occurs then yes only the PK is necessary. In this case though it certainly was USB to STOP the attack even if you dispute the DOGSO.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
If the foul had all the conditions of a DOGSO yet it was a genuine challenge for the ball it must be sanctioned with a caution. Now the referee can also opine that it was not in fact a DOGSO with not all the conditions present so then there is no caution once the penalty kick is awarded and there was a genuine attempt to play the ball. . That is based on the following quote from the LotG (slightly redacted)
**Removal of a caution for stopping a promising attack when a penalty kick is awarded for an offence which was an attempt to play the ball is consistent with a caution, not a sending-off if the referee awards a penalty kick for a DOGSO offence which is an attempt to play the ball.**

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Petr,
If a player did not commit a DOGSO offence but instead, stops a promising attack with an offence that results in a penalty, the referee does not have to caution the player if there was a genuine attempt to play the ball.

The explanation given by the IFAB is in the last paragraph of the answer given by ref McHugh in his answer above.