Question Number: 21250

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/1/2009

RE: select Adult

Chris of groveport, oh usa asks...

I WAS WATCHING A GAME LAST WEEK AND I SAW THE CENTER REF GIVE A YELLOW CARD TO A PLAYER. FROM WHAT I SAW THERE WAS NO FOUL OR CARDABLE ISSUE. AT THE END OF THE GAME I ASKED THE REF WHAT THE CALL WAS AND HE SAID THE CARD WAS FOR LAST DEFENDER HOLDING, AS A LONG TIME FOLLOWER OF THE GAME I HAVE NEVER HEARD OR READ THIS IN ANY INFO. WAS THIS A BAD CALL OR DID THE REF NOT REALIZE THAT THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DIRECT KICK FOR THE ATTACKING TEAM.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

I'm not sure why you are shouting at us, but I will try and answer the question:

Holding is a DFK offense. If it is a tactical foul, which apparently it was according to the statement of the referee as retold here, it will carry a misconduct card.

My question is if this was the last defender, was it possibly a denial of obvious goal scoring opportunity? It doesn't have to be, if the play wasn't going in the direction of the goal, or if there were other defenders close enough to intercept the ball/attacker, or if it was too far away to be an opportunity, in which case the caution fits.

If the referee stopped play to give the card, and did not give a DFK here, that is an error, assuming what you were told is what happened. If the referee felt the defender was committing misconduct, probably unsporting behavior, but there was no DFK offense involved, then the caution and an IDFK would have been the correct restart, again assuming play was stopped to issue the card.

If play was not stopped to issue the card, the restart would follow the reason the ball was put out of play.

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Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

If the last defender was guilty of holding then a direct free kick or penalty kick should have been awarded. If it was blatant than a caution and subsequent yellow card would be appropriate. I also question, as does Ref Maloney, would there be a possible denying of a goal scoring opportunity? Certainly sounds from what you describe that this could have occurred.
There is no cautionable offense known as 'holding by the last defender' which actually makes little sense as the 'last defender' is usually the keeper. If the referee called the foul of holding, then a direct free kick or penalty kick should have been awarded. If not then there has been an error made by this referee.

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Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Thats not one of the secen cautionable offenses. The referee can however caution if he feels a player is comitting unsporting behavior. Depending on the nature of the offense, this could be a possibility with a holding foul. Things to think about are - did the player hold for an excessivly long time? Did the holding prevent an attack? Or was the guilty player persistently infringing the laws of the game?

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

See Question: 21259