A&H

Open Age Player distance at a foul

I

ironop

New Member
Hi,
So I'm still in my first season really. Had an incident last week and wanted a bit of advice please.
Attacking player went in for a over the top cross and fouled the defender, just a foul nothing serious. I blow for a foul. The attacker is on the floor and getting up, he's on his knees just outside the penaly area. The defender a little quicker gets up and decides to punt it up the field. Now he plays the ball from about 3m from the attacker on his knees and he's pretty much straight on. He hits the attacker on the side of the head with the ball. Now there was no malice in the foul and I don't believe there was any malice in the punt up the field from the defender.
What should I have done because I believe I got it wrong, I checked the attacker was OK and restarted play with the defender kicking out.
Thanks for any help.
 
The Referee Store
If the defender wants a quick free kick and it hits the striker you should play on ,so long as you are positive that the player has not got in the way of the FK deliberately !

As the Fk you describe has hit the striker in the head from 3 yards I would be stopping the game ( head injury possible) and restarting with a drop ball

Hope I have interpreted your post correctly ?
 
Thanks Beezer,
Yes I stopped play and checked he was ok but, looking back on the game wasn't sure if I should caution because the defender played the ball so close when the attacker was on his knees.
 
If the attacker made no effort to interfere with the taking of the freekick (as in quickly moved into the way at the last second to stop the playing of the ball) I would be thinking that the defender is asking for a violent conduct red. to smash the ball from close distance with what has to be excessive force? Hmmm. Perhaps it is one of those you have to see to really understand it.

It's one of them powder keg moments - the sort of incident which can ignite a mass confrontation. Or seriously injure someone. But as you make no mention of anyone being upset by what happened... What beezer said. :D

Just sounds like the sort of nasty sneaky move some idiots pull. Perhaps I am too cynical. :)
 
That's a bit of a gotta be there situation !!
If you think he has punted the ball at the strikers head deliberately he should be off .... but you cant really book him for accidently hitting him in the head with a Fk ?
 
For someone in their first season it sounds as if you had a really good go at getting an unusual situation right :)

As Beezer said, if ever you stop the game just for an injury whilst the ball is in play, the correct restart is a drop ball. That said, assuming that the ball would have been kicked back from the drop ball to the defending goalie, no real harm done :). Most important thing, you ensured the players were safe and kept control of the match. And now you'll know what to tweak for next time!
 
No need for a drop ball. If, when a free kick is taken, an opponent is closer to the ball than the required distance, the free kick is retaken. Unfortunate for the attacker if he gets hurt but he was only 3m away and that's closer than the required distance.
Definitely a "you had to be there" moment.
 
Thanks for the responses, certainly gave me some good pointers for the future. Looking back if it happens again, I'm going to tend for a VC, purely for the fact he was straight on with the ball and the defender would have had to slice it to miss the attacker. Although he didn't do it on purpose he had a high chance of hitting the attacker (in the head).
Thanks again.
 
David Sutton said:
No need for a drop ball. If, when a free kick is taken, an opponent is closer to the ball than the required distance, the free kick is retaken. Unfortunate for the attacker if he gets hurt but he was only 3m away and that's closer than the required distance.
Definitely a "you had to be there" moment.
Click to expand...

Error no.

If the defender decides to take it quickly and the attacker is still getting to his feet, it's play on if he hits the attacker. He hasn't given his opponent a chance to retreat to the required distance......his choice.
 
Padfoot said:
Error no.

If the defender decides to take it quickly and the attacker is still getting to his feet, it's play on if he hits the attacker. He hasn't given his opponent a chance to retreat to the required distance......his choice.
Click to expand...
Unlike others, I don't always disagree with what you say but on this occasion, I do. The onus should be on the offender to move the required distance away.
 
David Sutton said:
Okay, I'm happy to be corrected. Where's the text in the LOTG that says so?
Click to expand...

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is less than 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball intercepts it, the referee must allow play to continue.

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is near the ball deliberately prevents him taking the kick, the referee must caution the player for delaying the restart of play.

If, when a free kick is taken by the defending team from inside its own penalty area, one or more opponents remain inside the penalty area because the defender decides to take the kick quickly and the opponents did not have time to leave the penalty area, the referee must allow play to continue.
Click to expand...
 
These two paragraphs are so ambiguous to me. Even contradictory?

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is less than 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball intercepts it, the referee must allow play to continue.

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is near the ball deliberately prevents him taking the kick, the referee must caution the player for delaying the restart of play.

So, the only time a caution should be issued is when the player is actually deliberately prevented from taking the free kick? (Cos that's what it says). To me, that means that as soon as the ball is kicked, any opponent near it, intercepting it, blocking it, is quite within his rights to do so - irrespective of whatever distance away he is at the time?
 
Kes said:
These two paragraphs are so ambiguous to me. Even contradictory?

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is less than 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball intercepts it, the referee must allow play to continue.

If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is near the ball deliberately prevents him taking the kick, the referee must caution the player for delaying the restart of play.

So, the only time a caution should be issued is when the player is actually deliberately prevented from taking the free kick? (Cos that's what it says). To me, that means that as soon as the ball is kicked, any opponent near it, intercepting it, blocking it, is quite within his rights to do so - irrespective of whatever distance away he is at the time?
Click to expand...

Preventing someone from taking the kick is different to intercepting a quickly taken kick.......in the first instance the player has been stopped from actually kicking the ball....

Don't forget that the FK taker has the option of waiting until the opponent has retreated to the correct distance or taking a quick FK. It isn't really upto the referee to dictate that decision to them.
Even in the attacking third we should not be preventing quick free kicks....
 
It's one of those instances where we are asked to consider the intent of the player (who is less than 10 yards away).

If we believe he's deliberately loitering there to avoid the other team successfully executing a quick free kick then we caution and retake the FK. My understanding is that this caution can happen either before the ball is kicked or after it's been kicked and hit him.

If however we believe he's an 'innocent bystander' who is either inadvertently hit by the ball or manages to intercept a poorly taken FK, then we play on

So in the case of the OP, because we'd normally have been playing on, once we stop the game for the head injury the correct restart becomes a dropped ball.
 
I once let play continue when a player tried to get another booked by kicking at him as they stood up after a minor foul. As the play broke I was praying they didn't score! I had warned them pre-match though if they took a free kick quickly and stuffed it up not to come crying to me. I kind of made my point but was soooooo grateful there wasn't a goal to really ran home the point!
 
I'm with Kes, from that wording as long as the kicker takes the kick no offence has been committed, which is ridiculous.
What about a defender "standing on the ball" (pet hate of mine) and the FK taker hits him? Personally I'm cautioning the defender everytime but the wording of the laws maybe suggest I should play on!?!?
 
I'm reading that second sentence as 'deliberately prevents him from taking the kick in an unimpeded way' which I accept is my interpretation but a) seems fair and b) seems to square with what I see implemented in more senior games. Hence a caution if the kick is taken and deliberately blocked as well as if it's prevented from being taken at all
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top