Question Number: 33281

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/28/2019

RE: Competitive Under 11

Keith Murray of Jackson, Tennessee United States asks...

An attacker has out run defenders on a long ball. She gets to the ball 2-3 steps earlier than the goalie who had charged out of the penalty area in an attempt to play the ball. The goalie collides with the attacker and a foul is called on the attacker. For the life of me I can not find a ruling on how that could be the case.
To me it seems as though the attacker had possession and was run into.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Kieth,
I have no idea as to why the call did go as it did?
The referee at a u 11 match may well be newer or inexperienced or simply had a different view from too far away and thought the keeper was being run over?
Were the hands out in a pushing motion?
Was the ball in between them or past the keeper?
Was the ball going off at angle, with keeper stretching out to get it when contact occurs?

Certainly based solely on your description it does seem the keeper fouled the attacker. Possibly even DOGSO and a send off could be considered, although we cut a great deal of slack at youth. You say, charged OUT of the PA, so contact occurs OUTSIDE thus no PK is possible albeit a DFK should be the result with possible card color reflecting the force & situation.

Perhaps the referee felt the safety of the keeper was being compromised by the attackers running into her earlier ?

Just try to have a kind thought and allow a referee to improve and gain confidence as a referee with integrity calls what they see even if you see it different. A good referee should always rethink the game and will often consider reasonable input if the sources are credible and essentially non hostile! lol For what it is worth , I hope all concerned were ok and that no ill will remains. Agree to disagree and move on with perhaps a word to those that monitor assess and assign that the referee in question could use some additional foul recognition & positional training.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Keith,
Based on your description, the decision here seems difficult to understand but without actually being there and seeing what happened it's difficult to judge.

What seems apparent is that the referee did not see the incident the same way that you did.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Keith
Thanks for your question.
As described by yourself that reads like a foul against the goalkeeper and most likely a foul that denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity which is a red card unless the foul resulted in a penalty kick and there was an attempt to play the ball.
As to why the call went the other way only the referee can explain what he saw and why he gave what he did. I can suggest a few
1. The ball got away from the attacker at the last moment and he tried to recover by a charge on the goalkeeper.
2. The attacker showed no regard for his opponent and charged with the ball or raised a foot in a careless manner into the goalkeeper.
3. The attacker had shown little regard for the safety of others in previous challenges.
4. The referee was inexperienced and may have seen the goalkeeper come off worse in the contact with the opponent.
5. The referee saw it as six of one half a dozen of another and gave the benefit to the goalkeeper due to being over protective of goalkeepers in challenges for the ball.
7 The outcome of where the ball went may have had a bearing on the referees call. A rebound of the ball off the goalkeeper would move the foul towards the attacker for his inevitable follow on contact.

In my game yesterday there was a challenge involving an attacker and a goalkeeper. It was a 50/50 challenge and it looked to me that the attacker made contact with the goalkeeper first in his effort to play the ball. I gave the foul against the attacker which caused the attacking team to complain. There was certainly contact between the players and perhaps some of the contact was attributable to the GKs own position and movement yet I felt that the foul was primarily caused by the attackers first contact on the GK.
I can recount another situation that sticks out in my memory. It was U12 game. On a 70/30 ball an attacker played the ball towards goal. The goalkeeper was late to the ball and made contact with the attacker. The ball ended up in the goal with a slight 'knock' to the goalkeeper. I was some 8/10 yards from it with a side on view. The defending coach was none too pleased, when he came into treat the GK, that it was not called as a foul yet there was no doubt the GK was at fault in the contact and the contact was of his own making. I guess it stuck out in my memory as it being in my opinion a 110% correct call with the GK causing the coming together yet it still caused the coach to complain! Not sure if it really was about the slight injury or because it resulted in a goal. At higher levels of the game it would rarely if ever get a mention unless studs were showing or it was a lunge from distance by an attacker.
So as a final point I would make the point that errors are made by everyone including the referee. On review of my game at the weekend I felt I may have got one or two calls incorrect. On a possible handling call I did not give it. On reflection it may well have been yet at the time my gut said the ball hit the player which it did yet the player may have helped that to happen. In the scheme of things it was not a major call that influenced the game. I am sure another view from a different angle would have questioned the no call.