Question Number: 15885

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/25/2007

RE: Recreational and competetive Adult

Juliet Rundell of vancouver, BC Canada asks...

An attacking player has the ball and is making a run. The defender steps in to tackle the player and the two players collide. Sometimes the attacking player knocks the defender down in the collision. In this case it a foul on the defender for stepping into the path of the attacker or is it a foul on the attacking player for using excessive force?

Thank-you for your reply

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It would all depend on what the referee there at the game saw. Law 5 says, "The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are final." If the ref saw a foul by either player, that is what she would call.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

This is the referees judgement. If a player steps in a players path in an effort to knock him down, then foul probably is on player that stepped in the path. Unless other player has time to react and avoid collision.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Juliet,
whenever there is contact we look to see if the players feel it is fair and whether the laws allow us to view it as fair. Shoulder to shoulder at roughly even paced with ball in playing distance for physical contact before the ball is contacted is considered ok.
If the defender steps in and contacts the ball away before there is physical contact we will judge the speed and body movement to see if it posses a danger or indicates a foul or if the collision is part of natural play. We watch leg and arm movements as well as the angle and speed twhen he two players intersect. I will likely see a foul more often by a defender stepping into the attacker but have seen attackers simply try to run over defenders who are stationary or straight arm them to get them out of the way. As my colleagues indicated a referee is a match condition who makes a decision based on what he sees
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

In order to answer the question, I would have had to see the play, sorry.