Question Number: 33480

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/25/2019

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

Hello,

do you automatically give a yellow card for elbow (or hand) strike to the head? It seems to me that the referee usually gives it. Is the difference when it hits another part of the body?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Petr ,
not MANDATORY in the sense the LOTG state you MUST. Just recommend as an act that could be interpreted as such. ITOOTR was it careless, reckless or excessive??? I have seen players come together and elbow, head, hand impacts go unpunished while others are! It is ALWAYS in th opinion of the referee as to the culpability of the players. However there are leagues , like the USA MLS that give their referees a directive like DO NOT let VC go unpunished even if it is not super aggressive. A (no hands to the face policy ) .

Look you can have contact COMPLETELY accidental & you can have deliberate contact completely benign as well. Flailing arms & elbows generally are disliked as they are warding off the opponent during a challenge and the players bears responsibility for deliberate action even if not a directed as a closed fist. However, say the opponent was stumbling using the arms to regain balance and a hand accidentally scraps an opponent across the face? We need some discretion.

A different foul but easier example, you throw the ball off the back of a turned opponent to play the ball on a throw in, COMPLETELY legal, no card. You throw it at the back of his head instead of off his back now the CR will be thinking USB & seriously looking at how hard you did so. Off his face chances are you get red and sent off even if not hard but done with deliberate intentions. Yet it could be the ball hits the face accidentally, seen it off a flip throw in where the opponent was LESS than the required 2 meters literal ate a ball off a flip throw. It was retaken and NO card .
ITOOTR. Have some fun looking at these lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpZhbe4lf4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmcgprb3gfg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHsg6Bb02L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d72Ru3y4YJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vO7ZTItsG8


One mean lady lol and a very near sighted unobservant referee crew in my opinion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJiRQsyrBoI

The throw ins lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVAD8Zl5ngg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZFgrW7LrQE



Cheer

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
Not a mandatory or automatic card and it is left to the discretion of the referee.
As you know the arms should not be used to push, strike, hold, charge nor jump at an opponent while in the air. to do so in a careless or reckless manner is an offence. Above careless it is a card.
There has been debate over the years about using the arms for leverage in a jumping motion. That is fine. However there is a fine line between judging leverage with raised arms and jumping toward an opponent with the arm bent and held above shoulder level since the force is increased by the weight and momentum of the body and any contact with an opponent is dangerous particularly elbows etc. When these raised arms make contact with an opponent's head the referee has to deem that either careless, reckless or using excessive force and a foul. Players take great exception to these arm/elbow contacts and the law makers want to eliminate them from the game with tough sanctions.
Put it another way. If both player were standing on the ground would the raised arm making contact with the opponent be considered an offence? So it is no different in the air.
Yes there can be times when the movement of the forward is towards the opponents arm which makes it careless. Each situation will be different with some minimal contact being viewed as careless plus the situations where the opponents contributes to the contact. Beyond that it is getting into the reckless territory and any situation where the elbows is used as a weapon it is a certain red card.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Petr,
Your question doesn't specify if this is related to something occurring during a challenge for the ball, but if not, I think we should be clear that for an 'off the ball' hand or arm strike to the head it is an all but mandatory red card. The law says:

''a player who, when not challenging for the ball, deliberately strikes an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm, is guilty of violent conduct unless the force used was negligible''

When you're talking about a challenge for the ball I would still say that if the elbow is thrown with any serious degree of force, or with any signs of being directed towards the opponent, the player is running a risk for a red card. Any elbow strike to an opponent's face risks inflicting serious injury and is probably going to be seen as at least reckless (if not excessively forceful). For me, it's only when the elbow is clearly inadvertent and non-forceful that the player should escape without any card at all. I think this is why, although it is not mandatory, I would say the probable recklessness of most elbows to an opponent's head or face, will indeed result in a yellow card.

An open hand is a little less dangerous than an elbow so you see yellow cards a little less frequently for a hand to the face during a challenge for the ball, but this can still also be reckless and so still be a yellow card.