Question Number: 337

RE: College

Erez Liron of Haifa, Israel asks...

When I whistle for a direct free kick, a lot of times a player from the team who made the foul, run to be close to the ball because he want his team to come back to defence and to be ready. I think that it is unsportivial because the team (who now have the ball) can play as fast as they want. Can i give a yellow card to the player for that offence?

Answer provided by Referee burbidge

You would be right to caution the player and show the yellow card for "failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted by a free kick (or a corner kick)". Law 12 was recently strengthened to address this type of misconduct. Five years ago FIFA decided that referees could show the yellow for this kind of violation. Since you have not issued a yellow in this situation before, you might give fair warning at the beginning of the next game you ref these teams to advise of _the possibility_ of carding in this situation. (You will have to be certain when you call it that the player is indeed delaying the restart of play.)

Answer provided by Referee Stacy Kalstrom

Yes, you can give a yellow card (caution) for this misconduct. This is listed as a discretionary caution, under Law 12. You should make it clear that the defense must respect the 10 yards and must be receeding the 10 yards on every free kick. If players continually run up and "stand" on the ball to prevent the other team from taking a quick free kick, you should warn them and then start issuing cautions.

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