Question Number: 34352

Mechanics 9/25/2021

RE: Under 19

Jeremy of houston, tx usa asks...

Situation from today, curious if I handled it right. Attacker passes ball, Defender is running past Attacker to chase ball and does a tiny little push on his back as he runs past which causes Attacker A to yell out "what the f" but I call advantage

The issue arises next. The ball gets cleared into open field and I watch that attacker, clearly frustrated from the push, immediately start running extremely hard at the ball. I know he's going to try to put in a hard slide from frustration and wipe someone out. He runs at the ball and puts in what in my opinion is a reckless slide, sliding from quite far back, and even though he gets all ball, the ball and his leg goes into an opponent and sends him down. I call a foul and issue him a yellow card to protestation of him getting the ball.

After the game he respectfully comes to ask why he got one, I tell him the circumstances described above, how he did a predetermined reckless slide out of frustration and even though he got the ball, it still took a player out and in no way should he do that type of behavior and he actually agreed with me and apologized for it.

Is calling a tackle like this reckless sanctioning with a YC proper? Or should I have only looked at the tackle itself, that he fully got the ball and didn't really do anything "unfair" to the opponent? If this was a normal slide without the previous frustration aspect, I wouldn't have even called a foul.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jeremy,
If the tackle was indeed reckless (as you say it was) then regardless of whether it was born out of frustration or not then it should be a yellow card. If on the other hand the tackle was not reckless but only careless, then there should be no caution.

Now, having said that, there could be a case for saying that deciding the action by the player was due to frustration might inform your judgment of whether it was reckless or just careless but I don't think it should be the overriding consideration. So in the end, once you have made your decision on the nature of the challenge after having taken all the factors into account, then that should determine whether a caution is required or not.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Jeremy,
welcome to the ranks of the b#@&# in black although nowadays I see any colour of referee jersey but black lol

I begin each match when introducing myself to the teams.
Hi I am Fair not perfect.
My ARs are 100% off limits to any abuse.
You have an issue you can bring it to my attention, in reasonable manner, at an appropriate time but I will not argue, we agree to disagree and move on.
Please respect the distance & refrain from delaying restarts.
All substitutions will be at the midline BEFORE a stoppage & enter on my say so only.
Are there any question?
Ok have a good game!

Players do appreciate a sincere effort & understand that while not everything will go their way they NEED & WANT somone with decent man managment skills, knowledge and application of the LOTG, good foul recognition not missing those critical match incidents. How well you grasp what is tolerated by you and accepted by them is conditional on your experiance so lets review your senario.

I have a saying, Your match. Your decision. Your reputaion.

First 100% kudous for reviewing your match and the decisions.
While a good Pregame sets a tone Post game self evaluations are critical for improvment as are the assesments & help from mentors and peers.
There is a tiny push, you call out & signal advantage, aware of the irritation & language.
Question 1 WAS there a GOOD advantage???
A tiny push? Just what is your criteria for advantage??
Advantage will allow play to continue but it is MUCH more than that. It is your dermination that there WAS a very real FOUL and it was designed to stop the attack and you are wise enought not to give a measly free kick IF that advantage could develope into something much better. Hence you call out & signal advantage, letting those players know you saw that FOUL, you did not miss it ! But then did you call out, Play on?? Was there an advantage better than to award a free kick? Perhaps better to stop play, admonish the pusher, reminding the agrieved player that you are right there watching no need for foul language? Calming him, heading off those retailitory urgings? You can commiunicate to players with more than Sharp clear whistles. HEY I am right here, Strong body language. No nonsense instructions but blended with a bit of humour

You say Clearly frustrated? Was that challange at that same player who pushed him?
Question 2 Had you or did you say or do anything to dispell or acknowledge his anger? Player generally do not carry attitude over a little push. Was there more ? This is a great example of a frustration tackle https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gZJn4UgpjY4

This slide tackle was in your opinion reckless because of the force used and the fact it was endangering the safety of the opponent. The fact is we do not judge intent because we are not mind readers even as you were thinking he is doing this because he is upset? You are correct, I got ball ref is not an excuse for a player to endanger the safety of an opponent

Love the respect of that player coming and asking. Good on you & him and well done for the explanation

A referee is neutral but we do pick up on the character and attitude of players from time to time, they are on our radar as such. A card is a tool. It has purpose and it sends a message. Now you tell me that if this was ANY OTHER player you would not see that tackle as a foul has me VERY puzzled? A FOUL is a foul, the misconduct attached to that foul can be cumulative, a series of continuous fouls or behaviour that you were concerned about and had already warned him? So either it was endangering the saftey of the opponent or it was simply a decent tackle by a peeved player that you added something more to the table?

I suppose if the card reflected the match neccesities if it achieved the result you wanted. Given you were aware he was agitated I would urge you to look for ways to dispell players from retailiation by intejecting a word to the wise. Let them know, YOU saw. Mention that pusher guy he is on your radar or offer a warning. Keep calm, shame to see you get tossed for something so trifling. You are too good a player

It is not helpful to think on what I would do, better to rethink did that card SOLVE a problem? Did you create a problem? Could you have solved this problem with just a friendly chat? A more aggressive verbal input or response? Perhaps a clearer advantage senario? Yes players MUST take responsibility for their actions but you might find a little communication can let the stream off
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jeremy
Reads all good to me. The player accepted your explanation for the card and I would concur with your reasoning for it.
I always like to show this video for these types of incidents
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gZJn4UgpjY4
The referee opined it was a reckless challenge with no contact and a direct free kick and a caution.

From your description I would opine your decision was 100% correct in that it was a reckless challenge which merited a caution.

As to what else you could have done it might have merited a public word with the player that pushed the player first to start it all off particularly if that was seen as an offence. It shows that you seen it and that it was dealt with.

Now you say that a normal slide tackle without the frustration would not merit a foul. The tackle has to be considered based on all the factors so a player could be frustrated and still make a fair challenge which should not be punished. A slide that is a lunge from distance and from far back is certainly high risk and at best careless which is a foul. The Rooney video could be seen as a slide with no contact so where is the offence? The offence is in the manner of the challenge which was reckless and perhaps there was frustration built up in it from what had gone on previously in the game. The referee has to sense that from his observation of the game to that point.