The Weekly Soccer Referee Blog
Sharpening Referee Knowledge and Judgment, One Week at a Time
Volume 9, Issue 8, February 19, 2017
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The purpose of this Blog is so we can all learn from each other’s experience and by doing so, avoid mistakes, make more consistent calls, and do a better job. I don’t have to make any of this up – this is what happens on the pitch.
Quote of the Week
“That would normally be an immediate caution, when a fouled player gets up and walks to the referee and waves a fake card in their face.”
From the color commentator at a recent pro-level soccer game when a player simulated an injury after a trifling brush with an opponent, and then tried to goad the official into a caution.
This Week’s Question – Got Your Leg!
On a recent Bundesliga Soccer game …
There is a lot of give and take going back and forth between the two teams here, with neither having been able to score after 70 minutes, and the home team’s crowd frustration is building.
With this backdrop, you see Player A15 coming on to defend against B8 as they bring the ball into the Team A penalty area. A15 launches himself in a tackle against B8, seconds after B8 launches the ball to a waiting forward.
In the ensuing tackle, B8’s cleats directly impact A15’s ankle, causing A15 to fall to the ground, grasping A15’s ankle. No contact with the ball is made in the tackle.
You Make the Call:
What is the call?
What is the restart?
Last Week’s Question – A Bit of an Overrun
On a recent Bundesliga Soccer game …
Schalke player B11 is working with the ball as Bayern player A15 approaches.
A25’s approach is rapid, and as B11 has the ball bounce away, A15 runs right into B11 as A25 is slowing down, causing B11 to fall to the ground. A25 then collects the ball and starts to head up the field.
You Make the Call:
What is the call?
What is the restart?
What You Said:
Referee 1:
I guess you’d have to be there. B11 has lost the ball; A15 bangs into him, knocking B11 down.
A25 was coming in fast, but slowing down; no indication of contact.
Sounds like routine contact; play on. No foul.
The Answer:
Charging – the ball was away, and the offensive player basically ran over the defensive player like a freight train.
The charge was reckless at the least, and the referee in the middle recognized it and promptly awarded a Caution to the player who initiated the charge.
These are higher level games. On a U10 or below level, you can expect such uncontrolled charges, which seldom rise above the level of careless. They result from a lack of coordination, or not knowing one’s own strength.
At the pro levels, such “collisions” are hardly ever an accident, and the higher level soccer you get to officiate, the more discerning you’ll need to be to differentiate between a charge due to poor coordination, and one intended to put an offensive player on notice that they’d better step it down a notch…unless you act to keep the Laws / Rules of the game intact, and penalize this type of crass gamesmanship.
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