Question Number: 16182

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/1/2007

RE: Rec Adult

Jeff Phillips of Pittsburgh, PA USA asks...

I hope that you can settle a dispute which occurred following a collision between myself, as defender, and an opponent. The dispute centers--I believe--around interpretations of reckless play, charging, and impeding the progress of another player. Predictably, my opponent and I give somewhat differing accounts of the incident.

My opponent broke away with the ball and came running downfield with two teammates. I was standing a bit to the side of the goal, so I jogged out to position myself between the goal and ball-handler, and to be equidistant from the two other attackers flanking the ball-handler. My intention was to either pick off the ball-handler as he passed me or to force him to pass to one of his teammates. The ball-handler was running directly towards me, and just before reaching me, he passed the ball away. He then jumped with both arms outstretched and collided with me; I smacked the ground hard, and he landed on top of me.

My opponent and I agree that he came running towards me at high speed, and also that he jumped into me with both hands out, although my opponent claims he did this to protect himself. We also agree that he kicked the ball to his side before the collision.

We disagree, however, on whether/how fast I was moving. While I say that only I moved out from the goal a few steps and was stationary when we met on the field, my opponent says that I came charging towards him. Without an impartial observer's input, I don't expect to settle that disagreement, but I would appreciate comments on how a referee's decision would differ in the two cases.

In addition to saying that I charged him, my opponent says that I fouled him through obstruction. Later I reminded him that no such foul exists, but do rules on impeding apply here? My opponent's contention, I believe, is that I prevented him from running through to receive a quick pass from the teammate he had just passed to. I don't feel that I impeded him, because I had set myself up to pick the ball from him when he still had it--that is, the ball would have been within playing distance of both of us when he reached me. It is true that my opponent kicked the ball to the side a step or two before contacting me, but I did not have time to turn or move out to the side before the collision.

In contrast, I feel that my opponent was playing recklessly, and that he was not in control of himself during his run down the field. He seems to interpret impeding/obstruction much more widely than I do (perhaps predictably, since we customarily play opposing roles as defender and attacker). I feel that I had positioned myself legally on the field, and that it would be unreasonable for him to expect me to move out of the way as he ran directly towards me. Finally, we both agree that he jumped into me and pushed me; whether or not he did so to protect himself, should these actions result in a direct free kick?

Please help me sort out the proper application of the rules here--I ask both in order to settle the dispute with my opponent and so I can know if I am playing illegally.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Qualifying everything I say with the disclaimer that one has to be there to make a decent judgment and I wasn't, there are a few thoughts which may assist you in settling your dispute. First of all, you are entitled to your space on the field, and he cannot come jumping into you willy nilly. What you described was not, by any stretch of the imagination, impeding, unless there are facts not in evidence. From your description, it sounds like he had every intention to take you down and remove you from the play after he passed to his teammate. Again, not being there to make a good judgment, from what you say, he could have been whistled for a foul and perhaps for misconduct for reckless play. The foul could be pushing, charging, or jumping at and the misconduct unsporting behavior. If, on the other hand, you were charging out at him (scenario 2), I still don't quite see how that gives him the right to jump into you or push you with such force you hit the ground. The physics of the collision in this case seem to be in your favor, although it is possible it was an accident, and since I can't know what the referee saw, I'm afraid it is hard to be of much help. From the USSF's Advice to Referees, here is some more information on the impeding issue: 12.14 IMPEDING AN OPPONENT
"Impeding the progress of an opponent" means moving on the field so as to obstruct, interfere with, or
block the path of an opponent. Impeding can include crossing directly in front of the opponent or
running between the opponent and the ball so as to form an obstacle with the aim of delaying progress.
There will be many occasions during a game when a player will come between an opponent and the
ball, but in the majority of such instances, this is quite natural and fair. It is often possible for a player
not playing the ball to be in the path of an opponent and still not be guilty of impeding.
The offense of impeding an opponent requires that the ball not be within playing distance and that
physical contact between the player and the opponent is normally absent. If physical contact occurs,
the referee should, depending on the circumstances, consider instead the possibility that a charging
infringement has been committed (direct free kick) or that the opponent has been fairly charged off the
ball (indirect free kick, see Advice 12.22). However, nonviolent physical contact may occur while
impeding the progress of an opponent if, in the opinion of the referee, this contact was an unavoidable
consequence of the impeding (due, for example, to momentum).

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

This goes into the "you had to be there" or in this case "I would need to see it for myself to let you know".

I wonder, what did the referee decide during this game?

In this case I do not see how a case for impeding the progress of an opponent could be made. Generally, this is reserved for situation where a player is attempting to block the path of an opponent to fairly play the ball somewhere else. These sorts of things do not develop within 1 - 2 steps from the time a pass was made while a defender was otherwise attempting to fairly challenge for the ball.

In fact, given that there was contact you couldn't be considered guilty of impeding (unless the referee deemed that you had impeded prior to the contact - which I find exceedingly doubtful). So, the question becomes did you unfairly charge the opponent or hold the opponent (basically by blocking the opponent with your body). In my mind if it is as you say where the opponent was running at you with full speed it could easily be seen that you could not have avoided this contact as it is being caused by him or by the both of you as you both try to fairly play the ball.

There is one other foul you could be guilty of committing which is takling an opponent making contact with him before the ball. In this case you missed the ball entirely and you do note that you did make contact with a defender. However, this is also doubtful in my mind if the opponent was running at you with full speed and you were both standing up at the time. The contact is also inititated with outstretched arms by your opponent which adds more doubt in my mind.

Now let us say that if you were guilty of a foul, and the attacker sucessfully passed the ball off to a teammate, I would imagine the referee should be allowing 'advantage' due to the attack which was being built up, so I don't know that the match would have stopped even if a foul had been committed by you in this case.

Now as to your opponent - if he did jump at you with outstrecthed arms and pushed you to the ground that could be a foul, but if you were running at him with speed perhaps he extended his arms to reduce the impending collision between you both. If the latter is true, perhaps this was a case of incidental contact and no foul should have been given at all....

In either case, he admits jumping into (at) you and pushing you which are both direct free kick fouls. But remember that these actions must be taken into complete context before it can be decided if they are punishable as fouls.

Like I said, we would need to see it to really give you an answer - but these are some of the questions I would be asking myself if I were the referee having to make this decision.