Question Number: 18007

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/26/2007

RE: Select

Stephen Fritz of Lexington, Kentucky United States asks...

Team A has just taken a corner kick. Team B's keeper collects the ball and distributes it quickly to a lone attacker down the field. All of the defenders for Team A were up for the corner; Team A's keeper is standing around the half-way line. You, the centre referee, turn around and start hustling up the field. You see that B's attacker has the ball and has just gotten around A's keeper near the half-way line. The attacker from Team B now has no opponents between the goal and him. A's keeper comes up and shoves the forward from Team B down, in a manner not normally punishable by anything more than a free kick. No advantage ensues, so you blow your whistle for the foul. You run up to the keeper from Team A and show him the red card for Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity. Just as he is leaving and you are writing his information in your book, you notice that your closer AR is flagging frantically. You run over and learn that he is mirroring the other AR. So, you turn around and see your AR restraining Team B's keeper and a player from Team A. You run over to said AR and ask what happened. He informs you that, after you turned around, Team B's keeper kicked a player from Team A inside B's penalty area. The AR tried to flag you; however, you were running up the field in the other direction. The AR then observed the prior sequence involving A's keeper and B's attacker. The incident involving B's keeper and the player from Team A occured before the incident around the half-way line. What should be the proper restart and punishment for misconduct? Can A's keeper still be sent-off for Denying an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity if you acknowledge a foul that occured before the incident, therby making the ball out of play? Thank you for sticking with me throughtout this convoluted and highly hypothetical situation.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

First in time is always the one which determines the restart. If you can establish through your ARs the time sequence, your problems' solutions will have a logical flow (assuming you don't mess it up). If the incident with the keeper from Team B was first, then the restart is a PK for team A, and you can decide the color card for B based on your AR's info. Did Player A say something to him? Caution or send him off too, if you can garner the facts. As for keeper for Team A, you can get him for misconduct, but not for DOGSO, because you can't deny what doesn't exist (if the incident happened first with keeper B, then the game stopped with that and keeper B committed his misconduct during a dead ball situation) - wish you hadn't thrown that card, because now you have to write a report explaining that decision and hope the committee can undo your damage. Besides, why would you even think of giving a red card for DOGSO at the halfway line, even assuming the incident with keeper B hadn't happened? A thousand things could happen between there and the goal. Remember the first "D" of the 4? Distance to the goal? If it doesn't meet all 4, it is NOT a DOGSO. Repeat. Let's say the sequence was reversed. Now we have Keeper A committing an offense at the halfway line. Blow the foul, leave the card in your pocket, or hesitate a couple of seconds and see what player B is going to do next - can he keep going? Scream Advantage and run - until you see AR madly waving his flag. Uh oh. Never mind, player B kept his feet and the ball and scores. You're a hero! Now, before we kick off, go back and see what your AR had to say. Let's assume it was a kick by keeper A after your incident at midfield. Fine. Just go back and caution or send-off keeper A, and/or player B, as above. Then restart with the kick-off. There are a few other possibilities, but just remember a couple of things. 1) First in time dictates the restart; 2) always check quickly with your ARs at every opportunity - this prevents the behind the back stuff most of the time; 3) make sure you know the requirements for a DOGSO upside down and backwards - and always hesitate at least a second or two before pulling that card - so you have time to think it through. Good luck in a real situation.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Another thing that comes to mind is the bit in Law 5 about Decisions of the Referee. The sending-off can just disappear with appropriate apologies to the keeper who got really lucky. Hypothetically or course.

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

See Question: 18023