Question Number: 33487

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/27/2019

RE: Adult

Timothy Nkemasom Odiaka of Johannesburg, Eastern Cape South Africa asks...

As a player, If a referee is in my way on the pitch, am i allowed to push him out of the way?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI TIM.
No!
ok that was the short answer.
Chances are you could be sent off for VC.
You avoid the referee the same way you avoid a goal post, by knowing its just part of the playing field and you could come off 2nd best in any collision ;0) lol.
Players will tactically use a referee to lose a marker by running in tight forcing the opponent to break off because you can not just run or push a referee over who happens to be in your line of sight.
You can probably yell, 'Get out of the way!' but even that might constitute USB depending on the how & why of a situation.

Referees try very hard NOT to be in the way.
Referees are trained to run in all directions & to anticipate player & ball movement. WE try not to LET the ball hit us, just as we try, NOT to run into players .
Now it can happen unexpectedly and sometimes its better to freeze than move at all .

Can there be some accidental contact that a referee might accept as part of play? Yes but each referee will have THEIR opinion & each situation judged upon its own merits, so be wary of false indignation thinking it always the referees' fault.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Timothy,
As ref Dawson states, the short answer is no. Certainly, there is nothing in the law that suggests this is permitted.

Now, it can happen that a referee inadvertently gets in a player's way and the player might put their hands out to prevent a bodily collision and if the referee thinks that is all that has happened, they might take a benign view of it and take no action.

However if the referee sees it as not being accidental, this would lead to a direct free kick (or penalty) to the opponents and very possibly a red card for the player.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Timothy
In the England v Cameroon game there was an incident where a player ran into the referee. No action was taken by Referee Qin Liang although she had an immediate startled / surprised look on her face. When I saw it I was somewhat surprised and the player made no effort to apologize! To me it looked somewhat deliberate. It will interesting to see if FIFA as part of its disciplary investigation into Cameroon's conduct will revisit that incident?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn_N-MFsdg

In general a player should NOT make any contact with the referee during the game. On the very odd occasion there can be contact particularly when the referee are on the move in a confined space.
Over the years I can recall three instances of players making contact with me while running in games. In one instance the player apologized immediately for the contact and in another I was at fault and I apologized to the player as I sort of blocked her getting to the ball. In the third one I was not so sure what transpired much like the Cameroon instance with the exception that the player came past me to follow the ball. The player made no effort to say anything good or bad. As I was on the move and the player was behind me I could not see if the action was caused by me or not. I decided in the circumstances to let it slide.
If contact on the referee is deliberate then the player would be red carded and depending on the referee report would be looking at a lengthy ban.
Here is a very unsatisfactory situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cNUbaJlGyM
To me this looks like the referee ran across the path of the opponents which looked accidental contact to me, The referee then reacts totally unprofessionally with a kick out at the player
The referee was banned for 6 months by the French FA for his actions while the players red card was rescinded with no ban.