Question Number: 4918

Character, Attitude and Control

RE: Under 13

Alan of , asks...

I had an u13 game recently where an attacker fouled a defender. Another defender said "you do that again and I'll break your f**king legs for you"...I've asked many referees but half have said yellow and half have said red...Which should I go with?

Answer provided by Referee Gartenhaus

Alan,.In my opinion, the defender used foul language and threatened physical violance against his opponant. I am for a straight red card and a send off. If you only give a yellow, the next foul against him could very end up with the attacker having his legs broken for him..Besides, 12 and 13 year old boys should not speak like this in any part of life without dire consequences. I say eject him.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

This is clearly a threat of violence and uses offensive language, if I hear this on or off the field the player, substitute or substituted player is sent off and shown the red card. If from a member of the technical staff, that individual is dismissed. There can be no acceptable version of this, the referee must send off the guilty one...After reading the answers of my colleagues and reading your question again I see that all of have overlooked the severity of the foul that seemed to have caused this intolerable reaction. As referee we must look to this as well. If, in fact, it was only careless then the reaction is totally out of line. If the foul was reckless or excessive then one could understand the reaction, however, there is no place for this type of intimidating behavior in the Game, the perpetrator must be sent off because he is well beyond simple unsporting behavior...I refuse the temptation to only caution here because of where the Game has found itself, one foul after another as a matter of how we play. We, referees, have allowed the Game to arrive where it is and now some of us want to accept threats and intimidation or offensive, insulting and abusive language as minor misconduct. I realize that each referee is entitled to his own opinion and that is good, but when the opinion involves independent thinking and alters the intent of the Laws of the Game I believe that opinion is flawed. I believe this because in Association Football it is the duty of the referee to take disciplinary action, not the players...Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Nagy

Hi Alan! In British Columbia we use the three P's as guidelines: Public, Provocative, Personal. Your situation gets not one but at least two votes for sending off by our standards. You are going to look pretty dumb if you only caution this player and he indeed breaks his opponents **** legs later! Gene

Answer provided by Referee Fredrikssonk

There could be no doubt that a red card and a report is warranted.

Answer provided by Referee Victor Matheson

First of all, either card can be justified within the LOTG, so what matters here is the opinion of the referee. I will side with the minority on this one and go with a yellow card. I am very concerned about justice in the game. It seems unfair that the player who is the one doing the real violence in the game (the attacker committing the foul) goes unpunished while the player (or a teammate of the player) who is a victim of not being protected by the referee is the one being sent off. Now several of my colleagues have a good point that it is imperitive that you prevent the future retaliation. I think a caution and a strong word stating that if the attacker even suffers a simple foul at the hands of the defender, the referee will give the second caution and send off the defender. This case also points out how important it is to punish players who commit bad fouls. While the question doesn't say anything about the severity of the foul that prompted the threat, players don't generally react in crazy ways unless provoked. The referee did no favor to the attacker by not giving a card for the original foul. In fact, by not properly punishing the attacker, the referee has made the defenders resort to their own vigilante justice. Had the referee simply given a yellow card to the first foul, I bet the defender doesn't react in the same way. As one final word, I too am concerned by the age of the players. The fact that they are U-13 makes it much more likely that I would give a red card here.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Wow! Seems we all want vote on this one! I say a red. At U13 that kind of language even without the threat of physical violence should not be tolerated.

Answer provided by Referee Dawson

Hi Alan,.If you are still reading this you have the measure of the combined opinion of referees from 4 different nations! .I have been on the panel for a few years now and the response this question has invoked is really a reflection of the the state of the game as it now is and the concern many of us have with the standards and guidelines as to what constitutes a situation being meerly unacceptable and worthy of a caution(show the yellow card) or intolerable and demanding of a send off show the red card? ..The divergence of what we say and how we could act and what we see and hear on TV is seriously causing anxiety on many levels..Law 5 gives Referees vast discrestionary powers for determining whether a player is judged worthy of staying on the FOP, or being removed.. .I despise uncouth comments or threats of intimidation. I acknowledge being the reciepiant of a harsh or unjust tackle can cause immediate anger followed by a verbal passionate release of emotion. Yet the statement is made by a team mate of the player who recieved the foul. Is he trying to stand up and let the opposition know such actions will not go unnoticed? If so it was a poor thing to do as now the referee must judge this comment on its own merits...We tend to be harsher on language at the youth level then the premier level. What offends us about youth indiscrestion more than adults? Unacceptable behaviour and allowing individuals to get away with such actions could effect the match but generally if there is a reaction it is in our souls that cringe when we hear such things...The point made reguarding just how severe the foul was that generated the response is well taken. We do not know that this was a minor indiscrestion of a simple careless trip? Perhaps it was a case of persistant infringements, or a reckless or excessive tackle the referee failed to punish properly? How loud was that whistle that stopped the play? What message was sent? Was the referee proactive in sensing such things, he COULD be cutting off the comment by being in the face of that player and close to the play...Granted we could assume by the words spoken by the young lad, that he is a mean dirty mouth gutter snipe to dare utter such a contemptable threat. The Spirit and Concepts of Fairplay ingrained within the game has no room for such conduct. I too lean towards a red card send off but could justifty a yellow caution butt chewing as REf Marco suggests under some extreme circumstances which were not presented in your original question. At any rate you got the full tretment by the panel many thanks for your question. Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Powel

Alan,..I have pondered this over for a few hours......there are many slants too it. These are my thoughts.....It was not the defender that had been fouled that said the words, it was a team mate. This to me nullyfies the arguements above that state that you would be incensed if you had receieved the tackle and so had the right to retort verbally in some way. The culprit has spoken regarding something he was not directly involved with so this may be taken into account!..My next thought is that we are there to educate juniors and this education is not resolved by the issue of a yellow card in my oppinion...If a player turns round to you and says "If you don't give us a free kick for fouls like that I'll break you F**king legs for you." .If in the this case you would issue a red then why should you not issue a red when another player has been threatened with violence. Are we forgetting our first duty is to protect the players safety?..We obviously have not got the luxory of seeing and hearing the incident but from what I can imagine at U13 it is in my book a straight red...If it is a hard fought senior encounter and I am on the spot to dissolve the situation and both players accept they "Lost it" for a moment and they have regained there composure I may let it ride without any action whilst obviouusly keeping a close eye on them...There is no definitive answer eccept that the correct decision is that what the referee takes, for it is purly a matter of there oppinion and that is final.