Question Number: 17389

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/18/2007

RE: Competive Under 15

Joel of Fallbrook, CA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17338

could u on a slide tackle put ur hands up to ur face and push the kid away so that he doesnt hit u but the kid falls over u after hitting ur upper body and get called for a foul?
and no i believe that there is nothing wrong with the way i slide tackle because it is never called unless it is a smaller kid than i and i dont change my sliding technique when i slide a kid my own own size except that they just tumble over me and nothing is called i also agree that it may be that the refs have a bad view and that they are easily influenced by opposing parents

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Joel, if you try to mitigate the impact by cushioning the way the impact occurs and I know what you mean when the knee of the opponent is about to eat your nose it could be fine. But a direct two handed shove away might be seen as a foul of pushing rather than protecting. As you noted the referee sees what he sees even if he sees it different. You simply must agree to disagree and move on or adapt to that ref in that match. It is an argument where even if you have a legitimate point you can never win because the referee's decision is always right!

As to your size difference as you get to adult matches that will likely be less a problem in the big versus small categories. For what it is worth I dislike to see mixed high school matches where a 13 year old grade 8 is up against a 17 year old grade 12. In youth size matters more I think then later in adult life as to the safety concerns of an impact

I watched a foot to foot standing tackle totally above board just annihilate the smaller player. The incident looked so bad it was like a freaking horror movie. The larger player pushed the ball into and basically through the foot of the smaller player sending him in a flipping motion some 5 or more feet in the air when the player came down he was backwards in an arch like a bent U his head hit the ground as the ball was compressed in the in small of the back and there was a resounding CRACK of bones breaking like a pistol shot.

I hammered the whistle stopping play thinking he had broken his back. The larger youth was in near tears and the younger player was trying to scream in agony but had no wind to so and made horrible gasping gargling noises. It turned out he compressed his spine and neck but the actually crack was his arm partially trapped under him, cleanly fractured in two separate spots.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

As soon as you say push the kid away I see foul play. The idea of a slide tackle is to take the ball without touching the opponent. It is just more intimidating and demoralizing to do it that way. If you're into bone crunching and the letting of blood there are other games that sort-of demand this, American football comes to mind.