Question Number: 15273

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/24/2007

RE: rec Adult

Findlay Carter of Leeds, Yorks UK asks...

I was on the defending team at a corner kick and marking a player in the box. The player complained to the referee that I was committing a foul because I was looking at him to monitor his runs, rather than looking at where the ball would be coming from. Is this correct?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Findlay,
all I can say is huh?? What look did you give him was it the evil eye or a come hither? Marking your opponent is a tactical neccessity!

I suppose your opponent is concerned you are impeding him as the ball is not within playing distance.?It is true that on a corner as a referee we notice a great deal of jockeying for position often a lot of clutch, grab, push, pull, lots of darting about mirroring each other. If this activity requires action before the restart it is misconduct only, no foul can occur until after the ball is in play and these same actions occur on the field from a player towards an opponent.

THe keeper is often deliberately blocked by opponents positioning themselves around and in front of him. We allow positioning but if the positions taken are fluid in that whereever the keeper goes so do they they are trying to restrict his access to the ball and play has not yet begun. This often leads to a shoving match and hostile tempers so a referee needs to be aware .

As for a defender blocking an attacker in the same manner unless it has too much contact or occurs as a preventative measure and denies a challenge to the ball as in an impeding foul once the ball is in play I would have to judge the merit if the actions and see if it was unfair or not!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

No. You can stand where you wish. Now if the attacking player moves and you move in front of him/her, then we have an issue. The referee can issue misconduct, but not call a foul until after the ball is struck.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I told players I coached they should mark close enough to know when their opponent's deodorant failed. Just don't touch! It was expected the referee knew this was not foul play.

Regards,