Question Number: 16630

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/10/2007

RE: Competitive Under 14

Dave of Portland, OR USA asks...

I am wondering when to apply the red card for DOGSO by deliberately handling the ball for youth players. With the really little ones, say U10, they often forget that they can't use their hands or they don't even know that purposely controlling the ball with say, an elbow is a foul. So I am assuming that if I've got a 9 y.o. kid that DOGSO, although he might have deliberately moved hand/arm to block the ball, does not need to be shown the red card. But at what age level would you start sending off players when you can tell they made an OOPS mistake and forgot the rule. i.e. I'm talking about situations where it's definitely hand/arm moving to meet the ball, so the handling itself is deliberate. But the foul and the DOGSO are NOT deliberate cause the kid has simply forgotten that they can't use their arms when playing soccer.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The younger the players are, the less Obvious any Goal Scoring Opportunity is. You will have to determine for yourself at just what age any particular Opportunity was Obvious. For me, unless a U10 non-goalkeeper makes a dramatic goalie-dive save, stopping the ball just on the line, I'm probably not going to see that it was obvious the ball would have gone in except for the foul.

I will definitely call the foul when the kid forgets he's no longer playing goalkeeper like he was in the first half of the game. That might help him remember next time what position he is playing. And if the U10's have PK's (per league rules), he may even remember the lesson better.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

There are 2 schools of thought on this. One is yours. The other is that the sooner kids learn the Laws the better off they are. I don't do U-Littles anymore and I did once send off a U10 player for stopping the ball on the goal line. I took him over to his coach, explained what he did and why it was wrong and quickly showed the red card. the next time I saw this I was older and wiser and called the foul and awarded a PK. I also had a talk with the player and his coach and explained that he could have been sent off for what he did. In retrospect, I like the way I handled the second incident.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

I don't like telling people to ignore what the laws say and treat the youngest players differently. So, I say this. When dealing with kids who are 9 and younger I think the referee really ought to take a common sense approach to these things.

I think Ref Contarino has shown some pretty good common sense in his response.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

It is a coach's responsibility to teach his players they are not to handle the ball deliberately. When I coached I never touched the ball with my hands unless demonstrating something and only after saying the ball is not in play so I can use my hands. This instilled in my players the belief they should not use their hands at any time. If they did, ten minutes of dribbling usually drove it home. Other coaches handle the ball all the time and have no problem when their players do. Then a player handles the ball deliberately during a match.

At this point WE become teachers. We teach by enforcing the Laws of the Game, our number one duty. If that means little Johnnie gets to have an early bath, so be it. He learns to be responsible for his actions. This life's lesson is better learned early in life.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

I agree that you cannot "bend" the laws pursue because it is a younger age level. If the league has a policy on this, then that is great. Giving a caution for DOGSO is simply not obeying the laws and I have a huge issue with that. Doing nothing is also a problem. I have cautioned 11 year old girls for DOGSO via handling the ball deliberatly. I was however very tactful about how I went about issuing the send off.