Question Number: 35635

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/31/2024

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello,

I have a strange question.

Situation: Player challenges for the ball and touches the opponent's face or head with his hands.

Is it a mandatory foul? Is such a touch assessed more strictly than, say, a touch on the torso or shoulder?

I know it by feeling, but the rules don't say anything about touching the head/face. :-)

(Sometimes it happens that the referee does not whistle. But it's probably because he didn't see it.)

How do you handle it in your matches?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
Thanks for the question.

It is certainly not a mandatory offence and a referee has to judge the contact the same as any other possible offence.
Is it a push or a charge or a strike or jumping at an opponent? It has to likely fit one of those four most likely offences.

The second part is whether it is careless, reckless or using excessive force in which to consider whether there is also misconduct.

There can be times when a player causes the contact themselves rather than foul contact by an opponent. A player can run into an opponents outstretched arm which is not an offence.
A player could be in a shielding position reaching behind to find the position of an opponent. The opponent moves into the arm which again could make contact with the head yet there is no obvious push or strike.

In the modern game with the advent of VAR there has been an increase of players looking for contact offences on the head. Many are accidental with limited contact and they are ignored.
Some though are acts where the arm has been used to strike an opponent in which case it is a card and the manner and level of contact will determine the colour of the card.

It is up to a referee to determine the manner of the use of the arm in challenges. Is it a natural movement or one where there is intent or disregard for contact on an opponent. If it is reckless it is a caution and where excessive force is used it is a dismissal.
My experience is the swing with the elbow will be more likely to be serious foul play whereas a raised arm on a jump making contact on an opponents head will be in the reckless category.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Petr,
while it certainly is a poor idea to put the hands or arms up into the face of an opponent, such contact is not automatically considered or assessed as a foul!

Fouls require the referee to recognize it as one established with in the LOTG, push, strike, jump, etc.. and as such based on the careless, reckless, excessive nature of the action being evaluated.

The quick hair grab/pull, a flared elbow spin into the ear or face, an arm wave that scrapes the ear, head or face, a finger in the eye or a palm smack on the nose or back of the head. The opponents' LOVE to react to ANY contact, be it delicately accidentally or blatantly forceful. We have fish floppers going down as if it was Mike Tyson planting an uppercut on the point of the chin. We have con artistry where the player grabs the free arm and pulls it against themselves??? The general lack of integrity in the world today is often reflected on the pitch.

It is not the referees' fault if you gently grazed the face with a free hand and the opponent goes down like you gouged out his eye, when perhaps all you did was make him blink. As an opinion if the referee thought you finger poked him in the eye by recklessly leaving your arms up high, all your screaming innocence is for naught as a referee can only decide on what he sees, from where he was, at that moment in time. By the same token if it was a nothing burger. Say so! Nothing there! Keep the arms down! Keep going! Are you kidding me?

With VAR review and multiple angle cameras they do catch a few players deliberately cheating. When this occurs they should pay fines, be excluded from playing just as if red carded or in the cases of some, denied the right to play.

I recall a player going down as if the opponent tore off his face, using two hands to protect himself as the player fell against him in a collision. I was in perfect position and saw exactly what occurred so when our rolling player started screaming for a card claiming he was punched in the face, I do indeed show him one! The fact it was for him, trying to get me to show it the opponent, definitely surprised him. lol
Cheers