Question Number: 32535

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/22/2018

RE: Adult

Cr of MOOLOOLAH, Queensland Australia asks...

Can a referee show a yellow at halftime for what he said were 3 things that happened during the 1st half but the last incident was 10mins prior to halftime and no words or dissent happened

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Cr,
a referee can show a card at the half! but the referee must abide by the LOTG in doing so,.

If a yellow card is shown, in the match report, he must clarify the misconduct as to time and why it was shown.

No referee can just arbitrarily show a card without recording the reason .

Now as to his or her justification of seeing something as USB or as a violation of the LOTG it is difficult to know the mind set or reasoning as to why an opinion is formed of an event we do not know or can review?

The way you describe the event is definitely odd.

A referee who is irritated at continuous flagrant actions can lose his or her cool and decide enough is enough for any number of reasons . The opinion of a referee on a fact of play is hard to dispute if they believe the actions undertaken by a player are unsporting, abusive , unsavory or in violation of a section of LOTG.

Yet the LOTG are clear, a referee can act upon these events only prior to the restart of play, once play has restarted technically the opportunity to caution, show a yellow card or deal with the event has passed.

To suddenly say, you know after thinking about it I will caution for those things you did or said awhile ago out of the blue is not what we do. Usually it is ANOTHER similar event that is looked at as persistently being a pain that drives the nail home, enough is enough I am cautioning you and showing a yellow card for the cumulative number of events including this one! Which in my opinion are USB. USB is a catch al for a wide variety of things without actually being able to state exactly what they are .

WE can possibly be made aware of a horrible situation by an AR or 4th a halftime that went unseen by the CR as justification but that is horrible mechanics and reeks of unfairness. There is a reason WHY we are supposed to deal with these things WHEN they occur so there is no ambiguity or thoughts of unfairness by collusion.

I have no idea why the referee chose to show a yellow card in the manner he did, although he has the right to show a card at the break under the LOTG he must explain his actions for doing so in the match report. NO referee can retroactively during the halftime break think about the first half at half time and change his mind he was too lenient or wrong not to show caution earlier so he will do it now .
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
I am not entirely clear what you mean here. Maybe the following points can help you decide.
1. If play restarts and a referee has not cautioned a player he cannot then go back to caution later for that offence. The caution must happen before a restart.
2. A referee can caution or dismiss players at half time for actions committed during the break. It could not be for game incident but rather dissent, violent conduct, offensive, insulting and abusive language and gestures which happened during the break
3. If an incident happened on the field of play the card would be shown on the field of play.
3. A referee could not review the first half in the changing room and issue cards for offences that happened during play. Once play restarts a referee cannot go back. The one exception is the case of failure to dismiss for a second yellow which can be done when the referee becomes aware of his mistake through the showing of the red card.
4. If a player committed say dissent to the referee at half time the referee would caution the player for that misconduct with no card shown. The player is just informed. The referee might advise the player as part of that caution that he is on thin ice reminding him of game incidents that already happened and that were not cautioned.