Question Number: 34294

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/11/2021

RE: Under 19

Jeremy of houston, tx usa asks...

I noticed there is an unsporting behavior caution consideration called "lack of respect for the game". I have never heard examples of this. Do you know of any?

Had a game this weekend where a defender did a blatant shirt pull on attacker as he went towards penalty area, maybe 22-25 yards from goal. So blatant that attacker's coach on other side of field saw it. But attacker stayed up, crossed ball, I called advantage, and teammate got a shot on goal. Didn't go in but shot was put on frame. Coach yelled at me across field "HEY REF YOU GONNA LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT PULL?" I gave no caution because figured it would have been for SPA, and since I played advantage, it didn't stop the attack.

But I got to wondering if this kind of action could be considered a "lack of respect for the game" pulling a jersey that close to the penalty area, and if I could go back and give a caution for it regardless, superseding the "SPA" consideration.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jeremy
As described this could have been a caution for unsporting behaviour. USB covers a multitude of misconduct and in this instance because advantage was played you could have cautioned the player at the next stoppage for USB. Many Leagues have codes for various cautions and if the card does not neatly fit into a category the lack of respect caution could be used.

Anyway the USB SPA caution includes interfering with a promising attack not just stopping it so that could have been used. USB can be for any reason that a referee deems that a player has been unsporting.

The showing a lack of respect for the game could be for misconduct such as smoking or using a mobile phone during the game or any other USB that does not fit neatly into the other categories.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jeremey,
lack of respect for the game!
this is where the opinion of the one individual who is in charge actually matters!
We can not be too anal or impose our morality code of religious values but a noble character with the courage to do what is right when necessary by ollowing fair play principles!!
Referees with integrity see what they see hear what they hear. While each will have a level of acceptance or a tolerance level for benign or obtuse behaviors, one with a clear understanding of values and what can be ignored as passionate discourse versus an action worthy of caution for USB. (unsporting behavior is our catch-all term for a myriad of issues) A professional foul designed to stop or interfere with the opposition's ability to play or attack certainly shows no respect to the player ed so it could be thought of in that light but in terms of a lack of respect for the game my Colleagues examples of smoking on the FOP or cellphone tend to show disdain for the game itself! I once cautioned a player, PRIOR to the start of the match, for laughing & taunting an opponent he had seen get smacked in the side of the head by a hard-driven ball shot at the goal as the unfortunate player was jogging around the pitch to warm up. I considered the impact an accident although there was reason to suspect otherwise, they were ahem supposedly warming up their keeper.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jeremy,
As my colleagues have mentioned, showing a lack of respect for the game is a bit of a catch-all clause. Concrete examples are actually a little difficult to find, which is probably why there are none actually mentioned in the Laws of the Game. As they also said it can be almost anything that the referee deems it to be.

I did actually see one potential example in a game played just this week though - the Supercup final between Chelsea and Villareal.

During the kicks from the penalty mark at the end of the game the Chelsea keeper kept trying to psych out or intimidate the Villareal penalty takers by standing about a foot away from them, staring them down and not moving back onto the goal line until the referee forced him to do so. The referee did not give him a yellow card but I was thinking at the time that he could have done so, if he wished, under the category of showing a lack of respect for the game. If something like this had happened during the game it could have been seen as delaying the restart but since the game at that point was already finished and kicks from the penalty mark are not technically a restart of play, delaying the restart wouldn't really have been applicable.

I didn't think a yellow card really was required here, especially since the keeper stopped doing it after getting a warning from the referee but I suppose the official could have used that category of USB offence if he had decided that a yellow card was needed, or if the keeper had persisted even after a warning.

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