Question Number: 16866

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/24/2007

RE: Select Under 12

K of Maple Grove, MN USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 1022

At my daughter's U-11 game, a member of her team was redcarded because she supposedly slid and tackled. This girl is quite tall with very long legs and tends to get her legs tangled. She also falls alot due to her recent growth spurts. The ref said she was cleating (the girl did not know what that was) and was given a warning. Then, she slid into another player again because she got a red card and was ordered off the field and the next two games. Do you thihk this is rather harsh for U11 girls - the girl was devastated and still does not know what she did? Where does the intent rule come into play here?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Intent does not come into play when the referee decides on fouls and misconduct. We aren't mind readers; we can't know what the player intended to do. Instead, we look to see what deliberate actions the players took. While deliberate is close to intentional, there is a subtle but real difference. The referee simply needs to decide whether a player acted with deliberation, as opposed to an involuntary reflex.

A red card at U11 is very harsh - but then, so can be the consequences of a mistimed or misdirected slide tackle. This can cause severe injury, even career-ending (if U11 can be said to have a career). That is why the Law 12 Decision 4 says, "A tackle, which endangers the safety of an opponent, must be sanctioned as serious foul play." Serious foul play is a send-off (red card) misconduct.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

When doing a Ref Voshol says and the referee sends off a a player he then writes a report to the league describing the circumstances of the sending-off. The league has a committee to judge the severity of the action and establish just punishment for the act. The committee levied the ban they thought necessary to send the a message to the player concerned and all other players that tackling in such a manner is intolerable at her age.

It is her coach's responsibility to make her understand what she did was intolerable, why it is intolerable and how she can play in future matches in a manner that is not intolerable. She did play in an intolerable fashion as evidenced by the sending-off and a two match ban levied by the disciplinary committee hearing. Whether we consider it overly harsh is irrelevant, the league considered it appropriate and that is their prerogative.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Hmm. Your coach needs to coach this player on how to make a legal tackle, and she needs to practice on her own team and by doing so learn to control those growing limbs. The term "cleating" probably meant she was observed by the referee to be coming into the tackle with her shoes' studs/cleats pointed up into the player being tackled which is by definition very dangerous to that player. Every player may petition the league for a lesser penalty, but those penalties are there as a deterrent for behavior no one wishes to see on the field. It all gets back to what your coach can teach her, and how much she is willing to work and learn.