Question Number: 35236

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/18/2023

RE: Amateur Adult

Mühenned Elseyho of Onikisubat, Kahramanmaras Turkey asks...

https://youtu.be/iy9N0Au_-8k?feature=shared

In this shot, the yellow player fell spontaneously, obstructing the opponent. Is there a mistake in such situations?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Muhenned ,
the mistake was the red players should have kept playing as the referee did not spot anything to whistle. For me there was not enough but it is a tad difficult to be sure, I thought perhaps once the yellow player lost their balance he kind of scrambled / lunged to block the defender by crawling on the ground and stretching out, so a potential tripping/impeding? Possibly the free arm of the downed yellow player might have poked the ball or caught the foot/leg of the red defender but with no obvious or clear foul, the moral of the story to future players, if no whistle, then KEEP playing!
I can see the referee here was totally dismissive of red's lamentations.
In my opinion, goal, restart kick off! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mühenned
It is clear that Reds felt that Yellow falling in front of the Red challenger impeded his progress and there is an element of impeding in it.
I suspect the referee did not see an intentional action by the fall of Yellow and in many ways Red was too *civil* in his reaction to Yellow. He even stretches out an hand to acknowledge the fall and he makes little if any complaint to the referee.

From the referees perspective he sees Yellow fall accidentally and that Red makes no attempt to continue after the ball yet turns to the Yellow opponent with an outstretched hand. The player who gains possession of the ball should have been challenged by Red yet moves forward with no pressure.
Referees take cues from players reactions and this would not look like an intentional foul which is why it was not called.