DOGSO

I appreciate this has probably been done to death on this forum, so please humour me.

I was doing a referesher on the LOTG in advance of attending the refereeing course, I am seeking advice from the wisened heads on here of what you would do from your experience based on the examples below from the quiz.

I accept that the answers are correct in law and a red card should be issued (please don't feel the need to reiterate this in any replies or "you aren't doing next week's ref any favours), however there is a bit of me questioning whether they are in the interest of the game, particularly at amateur open age (Sunday League) and especially youth.

1. The goalkeeper leaves the penalty area to intercept a ball played towards their goal by an opposition player. He commits a handball offence three yards outside of the penalty area, denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. What should the referee do?
   
   Award a direct free-kick to the attacking team where the ball touched the hand of the goalkeeper and show them a red card
   
   Whilst I do feel this is a red card in 99% of circumstances, it just seems overly harsh for 'amateur' players and particularly youth players. The scenario I concoted in my head is a Sunday league team already 5-0 down, do they need additional punishment?
   
   Am I expected to send off 10 year old Jonny the goalkeeper in his first season of playing competitive football because he made a mistake and will then miss the rest of the game and possibly give it up?
   
   
2. A defending player on their own goal-line deliberately attempts to block a shot towards goal with their arm. The ball enters the goal anyway. What should the referee do?
   
   Award the goal and issue a yellow card to the defending player
   
   Is it really in anyone's interest to book the player on the goal line considering the goal has been scored? Is anyone going to be shouting/expecting it?
   
   Surely the only time you are taking action is if they do in fact stop the goal and you are sending them off.
   
   
3. An attacking player is pushed over by a defender in the penalty area and denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The defender was making no effort to play the ball. What should the referee do?
   
   Award a penalty kick to the attacking team, issue a red card to the offending player and send that player from the field of play
   
   I think this one is incredibly subjective based on what is considered a push and where in the penalty box the offence is (appreciate the latter is covered in DOGSO).
   
   - Attacker through on goal is pushed over from behind before shooting - easy red card and penalty.
   
   - Attacker and defender are side by side, push is from the side before shooting - penalty and yellow card

1 and 2, when obvious and blatant, that’s the job, get on with it. But you can be gentle. If you have to send off a ten year old, you can lead them to the coach, explain what is happening, and show the card. That way the player can be easily consoled, less panicked etc.

3 weasel words. The four DOGSO considerations give you wiggle room. And of course this is an opportunity to avoid a red with 10-11 year olds. With adults, just get on with it and give the correct sanction.

@santa sangria has it right on!

It may not feel as though it is in the wider interest of THAT game but actually, the bigger picture is, yes it is in the interest of THE game.

However are players etc. going to learn if we don't teach them the laws of the game, and the outcomes of their actions?

How do we gain consistency? At what age does a clear red card, become a red card, and when not? The laws of the game are universal (albeit with allowed modifications at some levels).

You'd see a marked increase in DOGSO etc. if players knew they wouldn't be punished properly for it.

Ultimately it's the job your paid to do. To coin our @RustyRef analogy, you wouldn't accept a plumber coming to your house and not applying regs because he thought he knew a better way to fix your gas leak, that was not compliant, refereeing is no different,clubs are paying for and rightfully expect a certain level of service which should be minimum knowing and accurately applying the law.

it’s a slippery slope too. Once you give away some of these things where do you stop? I have both been given these kinds of red cards (instinctive hand ball when ball was travelling toward goal as a player) and issued them (as a referee) In my experience, teams of all experience levels appreciate the LOTG being applied as consistently as possible and this the thing that is most in the interests of the game.

The Ginger Ref said:

A defending player on their own goal-line deliberately attempts to block a shot towards goal with their arm. The ball enters the goal anyway. What should the referee do?

Award the goal and issue a yellow card to the defending player

Is it really in anyone's interest to book the player on the goal line considering the goal has been scored? Is anyone going to be shouting/expecting it?

Surely the only time you are taking action is if they do in fact stop the goal and you are sending them off.

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Just on this one alone, your more likely issue is that the team who scored will be howling for the defender to be sent off! They won't be as familiar with the laws as you, and will see this as an attempted DOGSO.

Even if they do understand the laws they may still do this, as the goal doesn't stand in isolation - they will be looking to gain advantage for the rest of the match too.

I had scenario 1 last weekend. U18s cup match. GK knew what was coming, started removing his gloves before I got the red card out. At the time close match, GK side 2-1 down. No protests except from the opposition coach (!!!) who said he’d prefer to play 11v11 and can we keep the lad on? I told him “no I have to apply the correct sanction”.

Martiju said:

Just on this one alone, your more likely issue is that the team who scored will be howling for the defender to be sent off! They won't be as familiar with the laws as you, and will see this as an attempted DOGSO.

Even if they do understand the laws they may still do this, as the goal doesn't stand in isolation - they will be looking to gain advantage for the rest of the match too.

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The other point to note with that scenario, is that if you can judge that a player is deliberately attempting (though failing) to deny a goal with a handball, you can obviously judge the intent. Whilst a much more violent example, it would be like deciding not to send off, but instead just caution, a player who throws a punch at an opposition player, but misses their target (probably a striker having a bad game tbh)

If you don’t want to send off u10 Johnny then don’t do these fixtures. Personally I don’t think they require a ref so I wouldn’t take them myself. Each to their own of course, but if you’re being paid then I feel you need to do the job

The Ginger Ref said:

especially youth

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A lot have said this but take it from someone who only does youth games every week, because I'm not allowed to ref adults yet. It is VERY rare a challenge at young ages would actually meet the threshold for any sort of sanction. So, when they do, sanction it. If you do mini-soccer, this should never happen. If you do U11/U12 matches, it will happen but only occasionally. Once they get to U13's, they know what they're doing, so ref it as you should.