A&H

Penalty Appeal - Player Trip no Tackle

Harey

Member
Hi,

Maybe a newbie question, but happened in fixture yesterday.

Striker dribbles into the box, turns left, sees defender, turns right and catches another defender who was just waiting there. I waved play-on, as I felt the defender he caught had no choice in the matter (there was no move towards him by the defender), and should not be penalised for being in the 'wrong place and the wrong time'.

Obviously all hell broke loose, so was keen to understand if I made the right decision? In my view it had shades of the incident between Villa and United in July.

Thoughts?
Chris
 
The Referee Store
From your description, no penalty warranted as no direct free kick heading relevant . . . subject to how the attacker "caught" the defender, there may be a case for penalising the attacker(?). A big "No foul" and continuing with play was probably the best route out.
 
There's nothing in the LOTG that states that a defender has to get out of an attacker's way so yep - play on.

Like Chas says above, if the attacker actually ran into the defender and perhaps knocked him over(?) - you'd have cause to give a free kick to the defending team if anything ... ;)
 
Same opinion as above from your description but I would have to see it to be sure because I think the incident in Villa vs United was a foul.
 
As @ChasTutorObserver said, think about the offences that would lead you to penalise the defender and ask if any of those apply in this case.

In order to get to that decision think about who has initiated the contact. In this case from what you've said it seems like the attacker has initiated the contact so no penalty.

The best example to use is in open play when an attacker flicks the ball past the defender and then there is an appeal for a foul for being impeded. If the defender has just stood there and the attacker has run into them, then it's no foul, however if the defender has stepped across to block the space the attacker is running into, then it's a foul.
 
The best example to use is in open play when an attacker flicks the ball past the defender and then there is an appeal for a foul for being impeded. If the defender has just stood there and the attacker has run into them, then it's no foul,

But frustrating how often that ends up as a free kick.
 
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