Question Number: 15911

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/29/2007

RE: Travel soccer Under 14

John J. Bowden of Fredericksburg, VA USA asks...

I've seen this several times where a player trips and falls and ends up on top of the ball on their hands and knees. The player then crab-walks to move the ball with their knees to ensure that the opponent could not get to the ball. The opponent ends up standing there with the only option of kicking at the ball and most likely kicking the player who is crawling on their hands and knees. Seems to me that this would be "dangerous play" to shield the ball in this manner and would imped the oponents ability to play and should be awarded an indirect free kick. I saw this happen four times in one game and nothing was ever called. Thoughts?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

That is one of the classic situations of dangerous play. Briefly, the offense of Playing In A Dangerous Manner requires 2 things - a situation that is potentially dangerous to a player (could be self), and an opponent who holds back from play to avoid the danger.

You had one ref who saw it 4 times and didn't call it. Please report this referee to the assignor so that he may be given further instruction. At least it's better than seeing it in 4 separate games with 4 different refs - then I would say there was a deficiency in the training system in your area. This must have been one ref who just wasn't paying attention in class.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

WHOA!!! Playing in a dangerous manner, No Way -- not by itself. I demonstrate in EVERY Entry Level class I teach how this can be a successful play by the player on the ground or the opponent standing above him. In both cases the students do not see this is, IN ANY WAY, dangerous to either player.

Use your imagination, kneeling over the ball a player can, very accurately, pass the ball a distance of 8-10 yards by using the a lnee to knock the ball between the arms and do so without touching his arms. He played the ball away BEFORE anyone challenged him, no danger.

An opponent, faced with a pkayer in this position, need only charge him off the ball. ??? Yup, charge him off the ball by placing the outside of his knee against the hip of the crawling player then using the outside leg to pop the ball out from under him. AND is is not a dangerous act.

In 13 years I have never hurt someone demonstrating this and I tell the other person, generally larger and having more mass, to resist what I do. Funny thing is, when done properly both ways will ALWAYS win the challenge and there is no danger either way.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Dangerous Play! Player played the ball on the ground and the opponent refused play as a result. This should be an IFK at the spot of the foul for the opponents of the guilty player.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

The player that does as you describe is guilty of playing in a dangerous manner. IFK to his opponents.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If a players falls and does not lie on top of the ball for an UNREASONABLE amount of time (that alone is an INDFK ) a referee looks to see what he does and how an opponent reacts. First you must understand that playing a ball on the ground is of its self not a foul.

That ball actually is within playing distance and he may shield that ball from an opponent as he endeavors to get up. He does not have to make it easy for an opponent to have access to that ball. What we cannot allow is for him to extend his time over the ball by way of trapping the ball in-between body parts say squeezing the ball between his legs or trying to roll out with the ball between his legs.

If he tries to effectively dribble or shuffle the ball around with his knees while shielding the ball with arms and head and there is an opponent standing there unable to make a play then PIADM must certainly be considered but consider: the ball is in playing distance, positioning and time it takes for one to get to their feet and to a certain extent how did the player come to be on the ground. Was he dropping to prevent a play or fell because of play? This weighs on the time we could allow for a recovery to the feet!

An opponent does not have to viciously kick away; he can ease a foot in and roll the ball out. If an opponent feels compelled to kick away it could be an DFK against him not an indfk for. The opponent must restrain, the referee must acknowledge the restrain is from the blocking actions of the downed player and if those blocking actions are unsafe then we could have an INDFK for PIADM.
Cheers