Question Number: 17218

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/9/2007

RE: Competitive & Tournament Under 15

Steve of Vero Beach, FL USA asks...

Attacker makes a play on a long pass and traps it to her feet. She then trips over the ball as she tries to move it down field and the defender bears down. The attacker ends up with the ball between her legs trying to get up and shielding the ball underneath her as the defender looks for a way to kick at the ball. Thankfully she refrains from kicking at the legs of the attacker.

I whistle the play dead and award the defending team an IDFK because the attacker was playing in a dangerous manner. The criteria I used to judge the call was the ball was covered by an attacker on the ground and the defender, who was within playing distance, could not safely make a play on the ball.

Attacking Coach said I overreacted and should let them play (of coarse). Does this sound like a reasonable call or am I missing something here?

Thanks,

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

It is a hard question to answer without having been there to see what you saw, Steve, but from your description, a call for PIADM with the IDFK restart was perfectly logical and supportable. Attacking coach surely wanted his player to retain possession and/or get a call for being kicked when the defender has to choose to try and play the ball and so one can understand his comment (notice I did not say agree). It is possible given the time frame and level of play to have given it a few seconds to resolve on its own, however if you felt, as you said, that the defender was having to hold up making a play, then there is no other call to make. You missed nothing I can see.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Something else to think about is this: I can use my knee to pass the ball through my arms if I find myself in a crawling position on the floor. Now if I do that and get it to a team mate we aren't going to want you to whistle. Another thing, If I am the opposing player and I want to charge the gent in a crawling position and play the ball away I can do that too, and NOT dangerously!!!! All I need do is get a lower leg in contact with his hip, lean in and kick the ball away with the other leg. Again, there is no danger to either player.

In these situations the referee should hold up and see what happens. Don't be too hasty in saying there is danger, wait a bit and see if skill rears its ugly head. The coach might have been right [I didn't say that, did I?]

Regards,

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 17242