Question Number: 16005

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/12/2007

RE: Competive Under 14

Darren of Fairport, NY US asks...

In a recent Girls U13 game, a direct kick was awarded just outside and left of the penalty box. 3 girls formed a wall 10 yds away but close to the near post. Just as the kick was taken, these 3 girls began screaming in unison; not to intimidate but rather to distract the kicker.

The ref(who in this case was my son) stopped the play and called an IFK for the defending team. I understand it's permissible to caution a player for verbal distractions of this sort, but would you card all 3 of them?

He didn't caution them and I thought he handled it very well. Especially since it was his first game!

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

You are correct, this screaming was unsporting. Your son should have cautioned someone. Pick one of them. Pick intelligently - don't choose one who already may be sitting on a caution. Pick the one who seems to be the ringleader. Just pick someone.

The problem with not cautioning someone is that now the restart was incorrect. You can have an IFK for the opposing team if you stop to caution someone; if you only stop play to chew them out for their actions, the restart would be a dropped ball from the place the ball was when play was stopped. That may be enough for the situation, it depends on how your son read what else was happening in that game. You just can't make up an IFK restart.

All the previous part of my answer assumes that the original free kick was taken before the referee decided to stop for the screaming distraction. If the kick had not been taken yet, the original restart would still apply. A restart CANNOT BE CHANGED because of something that happens while the ball is not in play. This could help your son in deciding on the restart. If he decided to stop play for the distraction, then he has stopped play even if his whistle didn't sound until after the kick was taken. He could express his extreme displeasure at the girls in the wall with or without an accompanying caution, and then go back to the original free kick. A restart that seems more satisfactory than a dropped ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Whoa Darren!! Let me understand you. The attacking team had a DFK. The defenders formed a wall and committed misconduct before the kick was taken. Your son stopped play, awarded an IFK and did not caution anyone. I hope it's a misspeak on your part because you say he awarded an IFK "for" the defending team which makes no sense at all. Assuming he awarded an IFK for the attacking team, there's all kinds of things wrong with what he did. First, since the misconduct occurred before the kick, the restart still HAS to be the original DFK. Second, you cannot award an IFK without cautioning someone and showing the yellow card. All 3 should be cautioned but you will see many referees only pick 1 and caution her. Third, assuming he could give an IFK, why would he want to downgrade a DFK to an IFK even one closer to the goal? What he did is common mistake of new referees myself included. You cannot alter a restart for something that occurs BEFORE play is restarted with very rare exceptions. It's one of the bedrock principles of soccer. I'm sure your son did a credible job but got stumped on something like this. Congratulations to him for joining the rest of us!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Darren,
Whoa Boy just when I thought we were making a little headway on these situations.
You CAN NOT CHANGE the restart from a dfk to an indfk without the initial dfk first going ahead!!
Tell them to BE quiet and conduct themselves appropriately. If they delay the dfk restart you could caution one of them to make a point all of them is a bit much but defendable in law. I suggest the loudest or which girl first started it or a girl not yet on a card. Remember the action before a restart while the ball is not in play is only MISCONDUCT

If you allow the kick to proceed and see that the kicker was in fact intimidated or distracted and equate that WITH the unfair yelling actions by the defenders as USB misconduct it is cautionable and an an INDFK is a correct restart if you actually caution at least one of the culprits.

Of couses between a DFK retake or an indfk 10 yards closer which decision is correct?
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

This is similar to a question we received earlier regarding yelling at the taking of a penalty kick. To make sure of our answers I posed the question to US Soccer. Their answer was caution ALL players and expel the coach for telling them to do it and upon re-occurrence caution ALL players again and abandon the match.

There are those referees who will stand firmly by the "pick a player to caution" school of thought. For them I offer this:

You observe three players screaming to put off an opponent.

You recognise this is unsporting behaviour by each player because you have to pick one.

You pick one and caution her and show the yellow card for unsporting behaviour AND ignore the unsporting behaviour in the other two.

You have just established that, in this match today, you will caution every third unsporting behaviour offence.

To be consistent ,what other cautionable offences will you ignore and will you do the same with sending-off offences?

The answer is exactly the same as the referee who shortcuts Law 3's substitution procedure and has the worst happen with 12 or 13 players on the park -- he is not supported in Law.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Darren,

Did we have a discussion at your son's U-16 Boys 1st division this week? I think you were telling me about this specific scenario at half-time of that match. The match was played at Parma Town Park, small world isn't it?

In any case, what I told you then still applies. Your son was correct in stopping play just after the ball was put into play. However, he should have cautioned at least one of the screaming players in the wall prior to awarding an indirect free kick to the attacking team where the infringement occurred (subject to the special circumstances listed in law 8).

However, that may not be the best way to manage the situation. It would have been better for your son to hold up the kick and talk to the girls and tell them in no uncertain terms that they are not allowed to behave that way. Then allow the kick to proceed, this teaches the girls what they apparently haven't be taught by the coach, and it allows the other team to maintain their direct free kick, PLUS it prevents an unneeded caution issued to you very young girl.

Remember, the referee should be looking for ways to prevent fouls and misconduct. Managing the players and the situations is a good way to do that.