Question Number: 15714

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/6/2007

RE: Rec High School

Keith of Point Pleasant, WV USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 15702

Sorry guys for leaving questions unswered. I was trying to be at least a little brief.

On this breakaway, the defense had been beat by at least 5 steps and were not a factor. It was one on one. My player dribbled in control down the middle of the field at full speed. When the keeper came out, she was also immediately at full speed. The collision happened too fast to know exactly what body parts contacted where.

But I do know for sure a few things. This was a full speed head on collision.
The keepers foot contacted the ball. The ball may or may not have hit my player but then cleared the area. As a part of the kicking action, the keepers foot and/ or knee must have struck my player, then their bodies collided. The EMT's concluded my player suffered a deep bruise to the outside upper thigh bone. She is still limping but going to be OK. The injury was not caused by the ball itself.

I'm not going to protest this or follow up with anyone except my players and their parents. Like me, they need to know how this is supposed to be called.

The bottom line is, can any defensive player aggressively and intentionally cause a full speed head on collision, taking a player out as they say, with only a foul called? If you paired up the players from each team and ran them through this same scenario, in every collision, it is very likely one or both players will go down and not get back up. Put another way, can a defensive player choose a course of action that has a high probability of causing a serious injury and have only a simple foul called? I'm used to dealing with injuries and I understand fair play for the ball.

Thanks again for your answers. This is a great web site and I appreciate the service you guys provide!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

In all this, the previous question and now, you never mention where the players were looking. It is entirely possible both were looking at the ball and never saw the collision coming. This is VERY possible as human nature is not such that a person will willingly collide with another without either choosing the point of impact or pulling out at the last moment.

At the age you coach the players are immortal and usually don't play with the chance of getting broken in their minds. See the ball kick the ball seems to be the mentality of the USA teenager. AFTER they get hurt this changes significantly.

Regards,

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

See Question: 15733