A&H

Delaying restart

JH

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Blue player is fouled just in his own half. Ball rolls on a few yards, blue teammate about to play from there. 3 red players surround the ball,1 red player picks up the ball and jogs to put it down where he thought the free-kick was from (I was going to tell blue to take it back anyway).

1 red player follows his teammate with the ball and stands in front of the new position of the ball, at this point I am and have been saying 'move away' repeatedly. Blue plays the ball against red, I caution for delaying the restart. Team and manager weren't happy.

I wouldn't usually caution if the ball was played against a player just standing there, without giving ample opportunity to move. My thinking was, as I explained to the player, he had stood on the original free-kick - fine - but he had then followed the ball and stood on the new position. For me this shows he was actively looking to delay rather than just 'standing on it'.

Justified?
 
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Definitely.
Can be a bit of a grey area sometimes this one particularly where the free kick is taken quickly, but if the defender deliberately moves towards the ball after you've blown for the FK then it's caution time.
 
Correct caution. Wrong reason. If the restart has been taken then it is not delayed. It should be for failing to respect the required distance. Minor technicality though. You did all you could to mange the situation and avoid the caution.
Fair point
 
And this was at midfield?

As I'm picturing this, I would have had a caution well before the ball was kicked. You had concerted action to interfere with the FK being taken. (The player taking the FK and choosing to kick it at the player, IMO, should have no bearing on the decision to caution.)

But whether that makes sense can depend on expectations where you are. Deliberately delaying FKs has become far too accepted in my view, at all levels. That said, I'm not going on a one-man crusade, but I am at the stricter end of normal for local conditions.
 
Sounds good to me, and you've hit the nail on the head with 2 scenarios

- If the defenders doesn't have time to get out the way and the attacker just kicks it at him. Play on, that's not his fault
- If the defender has actively got in the way and ran towards the ball before taking the kick, he's at fault and should be cautioned. Especially in your situation where the ball has been moved and he's followed it to it's new position.
 
And this was at midfield?

As I'm picturing this, I would have had a caution well before the ball was kicked. You had concerted action to interfere with the FK being taken. (The player taking the FK and choosing to kick it at the player, IMO, should have no bearing on the decision to caution.)

But whether that makes sense can depend on expectations where you are. Deliberately delaying FKs has become far too accepted in my view, at all levels. That said, I'm not going on a one-man crusade, but I am at the stricter end of normal for local conditions.
Whilst I agree that it has become too accepted and as much as 'football expects' is a troubled expression; football expects a player to stand 'on' the ball and football expects the referee to give them a few seconds to retreat. Out of interest, when would you have cautioned?
 
Whilst I agree that it has become too accepted and as much as 'football expects' is a troubled expression; football expects a player to stand 'on' the ball and football expects the referee to give them a few seconds to retreat. Out of interest, when would you have cautioned?
'Football expects' players to do what the hell they like
 
Whilst I agree that it has become too accepted and as much as 'football expects' is a troubled expression; football expects a player to stand 'on' the ball and football expects the referee to give them a few seconds to retreat. Out of interest, when would you have cautioned?

Hard to say exactly without actually being there, tone of the game, etc. Most likely when the player walked toward the proper spot for the restart after being told to move away. At the point, in my mind, he has made the choice to take one for the team, and I'll oblige.
 
Hard to say exactly without actually being there, tone of the game, etc. Most likely when the player walked toward the proper spot for the restart after being told to move away. At the point, in my mind, he has made the choice to take one for the team, and I'll oblige.
The point at which the ball was put down, he stood in front of it, and it was played was less than 3 seconds I'd say. I didn't stand there for ages asking him to retreat and only caution him when it was played. As you said, you had to be there.
 
‘Player, this your one and only chance, go away, stop delaying’ .... does it again, whack him in the book! Soon stops it....
 
Quick queation: does it fall under delaying the restart or failing to retreat the minimum distance?
If the restart has been taken then it is not delayed. It should be for failing to respect the required distance.
If attackers don't/can't take the restart because defenders are too close and you stop the game to caution, then you can use either.
 
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If attackers don't/can't take the restart because defenders are too close and you stop the game to caution, then you can use either.
I feel like it's unnecessary to separate the two, they go hand in hand. Then again, who knows the logic behind the FA's caution codes...
 
I feel like it's unnecessary to separate the two, they go hand in hand. Then again, who knows the logic behind the FA's caution codes...
Unless you're at the end of an assessment and asked to go through your list of cautions, I doubt it really matters either. Thinking about it, would the assessor really care which one?
 
Unless you're at the end of an assessment and asked to go through your list of cautions, I doubt it really matters either. Thinking about it, would the assessor really care which one?
Everything just goes into C1 anyway, it outnumbers everything like 10/1...
 
Everything just goes into C1 anyway, it outnumbers everything like 10/1...
I think you are just about there on why it matters for FAs. They like their stats to be accurate so they can analyse how their teams behave.
Delaying the restart for when the opponent are restarting are far fewer than when the restart belongs to their own team but they take their time because they are ahead.
 
I feel like it's unnecessary to separate the two, they go hand in hand. Then again, who knows the logic behind the FA's caution codes...

Agreed, I put it down as either, but in a recent education presentation the speaker referred to standing at the ball as a delaying the restart. Probably the correct one is failure to retire distance, but I don't think anyone's going to be fussed?
 
Agreed, I put it down as either, but in a recent education presentation the speaker referred to standing at the ball as a delaying the restart. Probably the correct one is failure to retire distance, but I don't think anyone's going to be fussed?
It's not failure to retire, it's failure to respect.
The way I see it is that delay restart is where a player tries to prevent a restart being taken or takes so much time tha they are clearly delaying.
Failure to respect is for scenarios where defenders refuse to move back to 10 yards at referees orders Or once at 10 yards encroach on the position of the restart e.g. Creeping forward or charging down from the wall before the kick is taken.
 
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