Question Number: 16927

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/27/2007

RE: premire High School

val of seattle, WA usa asks...

if team A commits a foul and is awarded a free kick. players from both team A and team B are getting up from the original foul. during this time another player from team A kicks the team B player in the neck and is sent off with a red card. Who now gets the ball? does team A retain the free kick? or is the free kick now awarded to team B for the Red card?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I assume in your first sentence you meant that a player on team A was fouled. Else B would get the free kick.

The player from A committed misconduct while the ball was out of play. After he is sent off and shown the red card, play is restarted in accordance with the reason it was stopped - the original foul. Free kick to A.

I've verbalized this to players before. Indicating the player from B, I said, "You committed the foul." Then turned to the other player from A and said, "And you get the caution for retaliation." Now someone from each team knows why the caution was given, and the reason for the direction of the restart.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The kicking and send off occurred while the ball was out of play so the restart is the original restart for which play was initially stopped.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The original offense sets the restart. Subsequent misconduct does not alter the restart. What I wonder is where was the referee when these two guys started with their handbags, what ever happened to being at the point of a hard challenge just in case?

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The general rule of thumb is that once a restart has been established that restart must occur. The red carded player's team will still get the kick as the other team was penalized first. The first offense was a foul and then the next was misconduct because the ball was not in play at the time.