Question Number: 15821

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/18/2007

RE: Adult

Tony of Sydney, Australia asks...

Enjoy the site. I have a scenario for you that I have been pondering.

The second last defender standing in his penalty area deliberately handles the ball to stop a weak shot on goal. This shot would have been easily saved by the keeper without the involvement of the defender. This is a penalty to the attacking team of course but under the LOTG should the defender also be shown the red card and dismissed for DOGO by use of the hand? He was the second last defender, committed a foul the shot was on goal but it was weak and probably would have been easily saved by the keeper. So should this be seen as an obvious goal scoring opportunity?

If the shot was not toward goal and the same thing happened - I assume no red card.

Thanks for your help in these scenarios.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Did the handling *obviously* deny a goal? I think you answered this question, that you felt the keeper would have the situation well in hand. So we don't have a send-off for Point 5 of Law 12.

To decide whether an obvious goal scoring opportunity was denied by a foul (Point 4 of Law 12) there are a number of considerations. Here in the US we call them the 4 D's. There is a similar set of criteria in Europe, and I suspect the Oz FA has guidelines as well. I'll use the US model as that's what I'm familiar with.
* Defenders - no more than one beside the fouler - per your description this fits.
* Distance to goal - an adult inside the PA, that's a pretty good chance.
* Direction to goal - there was a shot made, if it was pretty much on target that meets the criteria
* Distance to ball - this is where the scenario might fall apart. The attacker has already taken his shot - now how far is he from the ball? If the defender hadn't handled it, would he have been able to get to the ball? I guess that all depends on the distance between the attacker when he took the shot and the defender when he handled the ball. But I'm going to guess that this one wouldn't be met - maybe I'm wrong, and the referee on site could decide differently. His game, his decision, not mine.

If it's not a Red for DOGSO, we should probably be looking at a Yellow for USB, for breaking up the attacking play.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You gave away the answer when you said the keeper would have saved it. Then the answer is NO. You must consider a lot of factores such as distance ball was from goal, angle ball was heading, velocity of ball, etc.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

No. You state the keeper could easily have stopped the ball, hence no DOGSO. It is however, a PK for deliberately handling the ball inside his own penalty area and he not being the keeper. A caution and yellow card would not be unreasonable.