Question Number: 34341

Other 9/20/2021

RE: Adult

Har Rymam of Athens, Non-US Greece asks...

Please checkout the following cases from the linked video:

Case #1: At 10:47 number 26 in yellow gets kicked in the face by player number 11 in white and black. Is it a red card?

Ref said foul and yellow, no var intervention


Case #2: At 11:08 Plyaer 9 of yellow team gets fouled roughly by player #7 of black and white. Then he is attacked by a total of 3 black and white players, and gets sent off.

The two black and white players get a yellow, number 9 in yello gets a red card.

Is this correct?

Case #3: At 12:55 is #4 of the yellow team fouled by attacker #17 during the free kick which leads to the white and black team scoring a goal?

Should the goal count? VAR did not look for foul only for offisde

Case #4: At 13:16 is number 17 offside upon free kick? Does he participate in the effort to score a goal?
Should the goal count?

Sorry for all the questions, however this was a very important game.

The video is at:

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

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
On the first one I believe it could have been a red card for serious foul play. It does not look accidental to me based on the video and in my opinion it endangered the safety of an opponent with a kick to the head. In real time did it look like the dropped head and the drag to the ground was the cause? VAR no doubt had a look at it and I assume he did not ask the referee to look at it?

On the second one the cautions are correct for White #7 and #8. Now something happened in the melee that caused White #8 to go to ground. Did Yellow #9 strike him on the face? For a split second there is a raised arm. It is unclear from the video yet a straight red card here suggests violent conduct? Something happened in the melee which is not clearly shown. The 4th official was very close to the incident looking right at it and he can be seen speaking to the referee after the incident. I would suspect that the 4th official may have conveyed what happened to the referee. If it were my game White#8 would be on thin ice as the initiator of this incident and he would not come to my attention again in the game.

On the 3rd one there is a first foul by Yellow pushing White which could have been a penalty kick. Advantage could have been played on that. There appears to be a second push which I assume is the one you mention. The contact looks like a push to the back of Yellow who appeared to have stopped in the way of the White opponent. The referee is looking at the back of White 17 which will obscure the push. There appeared to be a lot of physical contact in this game. I am of the opinion that the correct decision should have been a penalty kick for the first foul. Perhaps the referee and VAR may have felt that both offences had no impact on the score and let them pass.

On the 4th and last one it is a difficult one. I doubt if the player in an offside position interfered with an opponent to the extent that it clearly met any of the 4 interfering conditions in Law 11 on the first play. The main focus of attention of the defenders is the White onside player who is involved in the challenge for the ball. Being in an offside position is not enough so the PIOP has to do more than that and there is sufficient doubt that he did meet an interfering condition as the focus of attention of the defenders was on the onside player. After that his original offside position had passed and a new phase of play began. Again he may have been in an offside position yet who played the ball? Was it Yellow or White? It is not clear to me. With VAR I would assume that the situation was looked at and no offside was arrived at.

I will finish by saying that these incidents would have been viewed by the match observer and afterwards by the relevant referee body. The opinion of the referee plus all the other officials would be sought as to what they saw and the how decisions was arrived at. The referee has a FIFA badge which means that he has a high standard to maintain.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Har,
tough match to officiate!
lol 1st incident
The kick to the head was a critical match incident in that it might have set the table for the reactions that followed. In real time a referee must deal with what he sees as he sees it from whatever angle of view he has at that exact moment. I find the armchair view of slow-motion stop start videos tend to CHANGE or evolve your thinking simply due to biases. True the VAR CAN intervene if such an action is truly missed but the severity of that incident was deemed only cautionable, including input from AR or 4th, and for the rest of the match that decision might have been problematic.

Feet into the head, for me are SFP or VC 99.9% if the time, unless it's a keeper divng into the feet of an oncomig attacker where I actually awarded a PK, & sent the keeper off as he was in the way to the hospital with a broken jaw, reducing his team by a player. . He had effectively wiped out the attacker but near killed himself in the attempt by replacing the ball with his head along the ground. The attacker was not at fault in the slightest. Best example or one of the best reasons NOT to want to play that position lol.

In this incident how much fault is there? In who is tackling who? Who is creating contact? What reactions are being countered ? Is there a hint of deliberateness in that flick of a kick? The fact the AR wiggled the flag immediately, had an excellent look, I feel CERTAIN the CR should have consulted him before going the caution route? As an OPINION, I felt a red card would have been the call I might make if I saw it as clear as that. That said it's a not my match, my decision or my reputation on the line!

2nd incident

It does seem unfair that #9 yellow who was brutally harassed gets sent off with no one from the opposition getting the same treatment? It might have been his push or punch, POSSIBLY into the throat or face of number 8 was seen as a VC reaction to the badgering he was enduring. Admittedly I am disappointed in how this broke down, although players are expected to conduct themselves with a certain amount of restraint and sportsmanship. The referee WATCHED the B&W #7 player foul the Yellow #9 player, THREE, Three, three, 3 times, over 15 yards while crossing the midline BEFORE blowing the whistle. The CR even if thinking about any conceivable advantage whereas the clinging player might be shrugged off, he could be more proactive by being verbal & moving closer as it was plain to see this evolving, long drawn-out foul was not going to end well. The B&W #7 wrestled that yellow #9 player as if he were a steer in a rodeo. Then when he finally dragged his steer to a stop 2 other B&W rodeo clowns who had absolutely NO BUSINESS being there, come in to add insult to injury? While the referee EVENTUALY blew the whistle and then ran over to the developing melee, holding a yellow card already in hand, did you notice he backed away from the gathering? It is true, as an official, we are not to engage in brawl type scenarios. We are to remain apart, watch and record. Now it is difficult for me to pass judgement because I do not know if the CR yelled or said anything to the players upon his run up. I do know, he was NOT blowing his whistle after his initial blast just as he was starting his run in. In my opinion that whistle should be blaring, hard & long as he was closing the distance. I feel that Yellow #9 was in need of the safety the LOTG are supposed to provide. My choice would be to run into the melee, whistle at the max forcing players to cover their ears from the whistle blasts, no cards in my hand yet because SAFTEY of #9 is paramount and separate #9 while getting into their grill, silencing the whistle, then emphatically state with voice and body language , I got this, now back off the hell off or face the consequences! I get we have to be neutral when it comes to the choices the players make. I recall the send-off for Beckham in his leg raise tap onto the back of a player's leg who had literally just eviscerated him from behind then this putz goes on a diving expedition worthy of an Olympic medal yet Beck gets the red sleigh ride just a complete farcical world cup referee decision by Kim Milton Nelsen whose ego was bigger than most players comparing them to little children for not respecting him! Yellow was the ONLY card colour necessary. Nelsen was following marching orders, but absolutely no common sense or what was best for the game thinking was in evidence.
Simeone: I conned red-card referee | World Cup 2002 | The Guardian

David Beckham vs Diego Simeone - Bing video

but for me #7 was always going for the red sleigh ride! I tend to favour my mentor's methodology of officiating. Few do it as well as these two were able to do it.
Pierluigi Collina Pierluigi Collina, the most charismatic referee ever - Oh My Goal - YouTube
& Esfandiar Baharmast The referee at the centre of World Cup storm - YouTube

Incident number #3
There were TWO Clear fouls a push by both teams hmmm can they ignored as not affecting the outcome? Was advantage played in the first one? Do we assume
the CR choose to think it did not matter or they cancelled each other out Who can say? Goal should stand.

Incident #4
In my opinion he appeared to be offside by a wee bit at the free kick & he was again offside when his player tried to initially play that cross. He was onside at the time of the goal but had he interfered with opponents prior to that? It is plausable a case for no goal INDFK out in my opinion could be made!

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

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 34344