Hey Ref, Why Call A Foul If I Have The Ball?
Many players & coaches have the mistaken belief that a player challenging for possession or control of the ball (tackling) is never guilty of a foul if that player makes contact with the ball, that is, the player "gets the ball". The purpose of this article is to distinguish between challenges that are fair & challenges that are foul where the challenging player makes contact with the ball. First, under Law 12 a challenge or tackle is foul & not fair when the challenging player makes contact with the opponent before touching the ball.
Second, even where a challenging player touches the ball before making contact with the opponent, a challenge or tackle is foul if the challenging player also commits a foul at the same time as or immediately following the challenge. Examples of such fouls are: (1) A player runs at a player dribbling the ball, makes contact with the ball first but also strikes the opponent in the chest with an elbow causing opponent to fall backwards; (2) A player challenges an opponent dribbling the ball with a sliding tackle. The challenging player's lead foot, at ground level, makes contact with the ball first, but his trail foot, at shin level, trips the opponent causing the opponent to fall; (3) A player challenges for the ball by kicking at it. While making contact with the ball first, as a result of uncontrolled follow through, the kicking foot ends up making violent contact with the opponent's knee; (4) A player challenges an opponent dribbling the ball with a sliding tackle making contact with the ball first but her momentum carries her hip into the knees of the opponent knocking the opponent down. It is equally important to recognize a fair challenge when the ball is touched first and there is no accompanying/subsequent foul.
Examples of such fair challenges are: (1) A player challenges for the ball by making a firm but not excessively forceful block tackle, touching the ball first, and the opponent trips over the ball and falls. (2) A player challenges for the ball by poking the ball away from an opponent with a foot and leg extended at ground level, contacting the ball first, and the momentum of the opponent carries the opponent forward to stumble over the extended foot and falls. There are some types of challenges where impropriety or the chance of physical harm to an opponent is sufficiently high that a referee should treat them with a high level of scrutiny and in appropriate circumstances issue a caution or a send off even where a balls first contact is followed by contact with the opponent. These are: (1) Where contact is made with an opponent with the bottom of the challenging player's shoe whether the challenging player is sliding, jumping or kicking at another player, a studs-up tackle; (2) A scissors tackle where a challenging player traps an opponent's foot, ankle, shin or knee between the challenging player's legs; (3) Any challenge where the opponent is struck forcefully by an elbow especially to the head or neck area; and (4) A reckless or excessively forceful challenge where the trail foot, or even the follow through of the lead foot which made contact with the ball, makes contact in a location on the opponent's body away from location of the ball. One general guideline in determining that a challenge involving contact with an opponent is fair is that contact is made with the ball before (or even at the same time) contact is made with the opponent and the challenge is made in a careful manner with only the amount of contact or force necessary to dispossess the opponent of the ball and the contact in not careless, reckless or with excessive force. Ultimately, as with all fouls, this determination is based on the judgment of the referee.
Be the Referee: What’s the Short Answer?
Short Answers:
1. Disallow the goal and restart with a corner kick for the red team.
2. Award a goal to the red team and restart with a kick-off by the blue team.
3. Award a goal to the red team and restart with a kick-off by the blue team.
4. Disallow the goal and restart by the blue team retaking the free kick.
Answers Below
"To whistle or not to whistle?" that is the question. Referees must make quick decisions or give the "short
answer" to the question. The luxury of time to think it over, look it up, or discuss it with someone is not an
option for the referee during the game.
Be a referee for two or three seconds and give the "short answer" to the following situations. Be honest and
don't take more than the two or three seconds the referee has to make a decision. If you have questions contact
me, Joe Eldridge, National Referee Administrator, at 888 686 2976 or email me at joeeldridge@ayso.org.
1. During a direct free kick for the blue team just outside the blue team's penalty area, the kicker kicks
the ball back towards the blue team's goalkeeper who misses the ball completely and it goes directly
into the blue team's own goal. What should the referee do and how is play restarted?
Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc……..
2. During an indirect free kick for the blue team just outside the blue team's penalty area, the kicker
kicks the ball back towards the blue team's goalkeeper who attempts to control the ball but it deflects
off the goalkeeper's hands into the blue team's own goal. What should the referee do and how is play
restarted?
Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc……..
3. During a direct free kick for the blue team just outside the blue team's penalty area, the kicker kicks
the ball back towards the blue team's goal but the ball is intercepted by a red team player in an off
side position who kicks the ball into the blue team's goal. What should the referee do and how is play
restarted?
Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc……..
4. During an indirect free kick for the blue team just inside the blue team's penalty area, the kicker
kicks the ball back towards the blue team's goal where the goalkeeper miskicks the ball and it goes
into the blue team's own goal. What should the referee do and how is play restartedTic Toc…….. Tic Toc…….. Tic Toc……
.
Mentoring Youth Referees Pays Big
It has only been seven years but it feels like a whole lot more. Seven years is the amount of time that I have been a referee. Currently 19 years old, I started out when I was twelve doing U-6 and U-8 games and at that time I can remember thinking that I couldn't even imagine doing anything higher than U-10. Now at 19 I am a certified Advanced level referee working towards my National badge, which is an amazing development.
The problem is that it shouldn't be that amazing. I have been fortunate enough to work with some great referees who have overseen my development and pushed me to move up in level and work more challenging games, but I am but a single referee and there are too many refs who get either complacent or have not been reached out to like I was and mentored along the path to a National Badge. Both of these circumstances, complacency and the mentoring process, go hand in hand because one eliminates the other. A complacent referee is made because there is no one pushing and encouraging him/her to be better. Most people volunteer to officiate soccer because they want to be involved in their children's soccer experience, which is a wonderful reason. The volunteers take the regional referee course and from that point they usually stay at that age group partly because that is all they know. The gap between the number of Regional Referees and Intermediate Referees is the greatest out of any level change. I feel that it is our responsibility as experienced refs to reach out and help bring along someone who is at a lower level.
Whether it is an Intermediate ref assisting a Regional or a National helping an Advanced referee through the process of upgrading, mentoring just one ref can help the game more than anyone can realize. If you take the time to watch a young or inexperienced referee do a game and then take 10-15 minutes to talk and discuss his feeling on how the game went and if you can impart some knowledge onto this ref it will make him/her twice as good the next game he does. By instilling confidence in young referees you build a foundation for that ref to grow on. The idea of having confidence in your ability to perform, in this case to officiate a soccer game, leads to wanting new challenges and wanting to conquer those challenges. The concept of mentoring does not have to be a long, time consuming process. It can simply be taking the time to offer words of encouragement or advice. From there that can lead to the mentor directing him to a badge upgrade or providing more opportunities to improve on the field.
The first thing I ever learned in a referee course was that AYSO is based on a triangle. One side being coaches, one being spectators and the other being referees. In the center of the triangle you have the players, and for the players to be able to succeed to the fullest we need to get the most out of each side of that triangle. For a referee that means making sure that there are qualified officials to do games for each age group. In order for qualified officials to exist in the future it is up to the current crop of refs to start finding and helping along the ones that will eventually take our places.
Coach Certification Training Req.'s
As previously announced, the National Board of Directors approved a Position Statement presented by the National Coaching Commission which requires all coaches participating in the AYSO National Games, Secondary Programs, Inter-sectional AYSO tournaments, non-AYSO tournaments and International competitions to be trained at the age/skill level of the team they enter and coach. This approval occurred in October 2006 and was otherwise to go into affect August 1, 2007. When the matter was recently revisited, however, the NBOD voted to delay the implementation of this policy until August 1, 2009. This new window will allow time for this very important change to be communicated to all of our membership and time for our coaches who wish to participate in these secondary opportunities to obtain the required training. This notification will serve as the first in this line of communications. Over the coming months, the National Coach Commission will undertake an aggressive effort to communicate this requirement to the membership and to see that more training courses are scheduled and conducted. In turn, coaches will now have two years to seek out and take this valuable training.
While a "Temporary Bypass Certification" had been discussed, your AYSO leadership knows that better trained coaches make for better skilled players, which creates higher energy levels, more excitement and fun, as well as success. As such, it will not be implemented.
The delayed implementation date will thus result in the opportunity for additional coach training courses with greater attendance of our grass-root volunteers. We also suggest that regions work with other regions or areas to organize mini-Super Camps -- where a battery of coaching courses can be offered -- and offer them at different times, in order to maximize attendance and give greater options for course completion. These camps have the added benefit of bringing the volunteers of an area or section together and increasing the spirit of cooperation and teamwork. It is considered appropriate for a region to reimburse a volunteer for some or all of any expenses incurred in getting this much-needed training. We thus encourage you to be supportive of the
Coaching Commission effort when considering coaches for any secondary play teams or establishing rules of any competition of which you may be a part of. Reward those who have sought the training and have improved their skills to provide a greater service to our players. The program deserves nothing less. Thank you, in advance, for raising the quality of coaching and the entire AYSO experience for the kids.