Question Number: 31943

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/27/2017

RE: Adult

Mehdi Saboori of Mashhad, Khorasan Iran asks...

Hello guys. Thank you for the website you have created. I'd actually asked you a few questions over the last 12 months and now I'm going to trouble you with another one:

Should the ref send the blue player off here?!

http://tamasha.com/v/30BzD

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Medhi
Thanks for the question
Law 12 of the Laws of the Game has been amended significantly in 2016. In the past that foul was certainly a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Under the amended law when a defender denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball. In all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.) the offending player must still be sent off.
So in this example as a penalty kick was awarded and the referee deemed the challenge to be an attempt to play the ball the correct decision was a yellow card. The same foul outside the penalty area would still be a red card. The view now is that the penalty kick restores the goal scoring opportunity.
The disappointing part is that the foul was a stonewall penalty kick and Blue teams behaviour was totally unacceptable. Under UEFA advice at least one Blue player should have been cautioned for *mobbing* the referee.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Mehdi,
we appreciate the kind words and are glad you find our efforts to help you in your own journey of understanding.

The rewrite of the LOTG have chosen to dispel the triple threat of a PK, red card and send off for any foul within the PA that looks as if it is a legitimate attempt to challenge rather than deem it a DOGSO given the resulting PK BECOME the opportunity to score. This has downgraded the act to USB as only a yellow card caution.

If the foul was considered as SFP or VC this would not apply as the excessive nature is a send of foul or misconduct of its own nothing to do with DOGSO.

I agree with my colleague as to the behaviour of the blue players surrounding the referee is also cautionable and the pathetic grab my face and scream because of the shove is everything that is wrong with football in general as pandering to the candy sticks playing the game. The waving of arms at the AR direction for some imaginary offside or who know what goes on in the head of a guilty player when caught red handed costs his team a goal by playing unfairly.
Cheers