Question Number: 16000

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/11/2007

RE: Rec College

Alexander of St John's, NL Canada asks...

I saw two players going shoulder to shoulder with one player in control of the ball (offensive player). The player who does not of the ball ,(defensive player), Slides his foot across kicking the ball away from the offensive player and the offensive player trips of the defensive players foot. Even thought the defensive player played the ball first should the offensive player be awarded a direct free kick or should the game continue play?.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Alex,
great question and of course you will get a depends answer as in all things where we guess at the degree of careless, reckless or excessive and 2nd guess the opinion of the referee who watches what occurs!

Getting to the ball first does not preclude a foul from happening but it does figure strongly into seeing a fall instead of a trip.

If the act of getting to the ball was fair we then look to see if the follow though is avoidable or not and the angle and force used initially was appropriate . I have seen good tackles that win the ball fair and clean TURN into a foul because of the extra things after, like the back leg scissors action that traps an opponents feet, raising the foot/feet higher after it contacts the ball, dragging an opponent down by holding on to him so he cannot pursue the ball or continuing to charge at pace, bowling them over claiming, I got the ball first ref!
That said I see a lot of raised eyebrows and hollers for fouls when the tackle was a great one and the opponent is knocked over or simply falls over the outstretched leg of a well timed tackle.
Cheers