Question Number: 30226

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/29/2016

RE: Competetive

Nisar ali of Mingora, Kheiber pukhtunkhwa Pakistan asks...

When two players of the same sides collides with each other. Is it foul or not??

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

Hello Nisar,
NO foul, a foul requires an opponent among other things!
What you have is likely an accident although it could escalate into misconduct as an act of USB or VC if one of the two suddenly are angry at the other. We look to ensure no injury and let play continue, if there is a serious injury we stop play restart with a drop ball from where the ball was at the time of the stoppage.

IF either of the two are engaged in misconduct and start trading blows or a shoving match because they are upset and play continues they could wind up awarding an INDFK to the opposition for their irrational actions and be carded as to the type of forces at play

I recall two adult men strikers trying to score, they both got in one another's way and wound up crashing to the ground, one was so incensed at the other, he punched the team mate in the side of the head using his first. So rather than just run over to see if they were ok, I ran over showed a red card to the one stopped the other from retaliating and restarted with an indfk out! If he had simply pushed him away or open hand shove against the shoulder I might see no reason to card or just caution but a fist to the head is hard to ignore particularly as it was a hard punch.

No goal, lost ball possession and got to play a man down! tsk tsk Coach though a yellow card was all that was needed, he did not seem to grasp that my quick intersection they might be down two players if a knock down drag out fight had started.

from our pitch to his pitch in the spirit of fair play

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Nisar
No that cannot be a foul. These are the conditions of a foul.
# it must be committed by a player
# it must occur on the field of play
# it must occur while the ball is in play
In addition if you read Law 12 it states that all but one of the ten penal fouls are committed against opponents. The one exception is deliberate handling.
Now a team mate can commit misconduct against a team mate such as violent conduct. After the player is sent off the referee awards an indirect free kick from where the offence took place.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

A player cannot foul a teammate. However, teammates could be cautioned or sent off for behavior between them if it warrants.

Although as I recall NFHS rules have one peculiarity on this: it is possible for a player to be called for playing in a dangerous manner when a teammate is involved. Perhaps that was what was called in your situation, if a foul was called between teammates. But that wouldn't apply in Pakistan.