Question Number: 18020

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/28/2007

RE: Competitive Under 14

Jay of Santa Cruz, CA US asks...

I'm having problems with the reasoning on legal slide tackles (and more importantly recognizing them), hopefully you can shed some light on the situation. A player can legally tackle a player and have his/her opponent eating dirt as a result. Clearly a player has been tripped by an opponent but there is no foul. How and when can this be justified?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jay

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Jay you ask a question based on an incorrect premise. In this Game players don't tackle other players they tackle the ball and only the ball. If they contact the opponent before making contact with the ball that is foul play. If they trip the opponent due to carelessly raising a knee or leg after the, otherwise fair, tackle it THAT becomes foul play, not the tackle. If a player stops the ball and an opponent falls over the ball that is a great tackle and NOT foul play. Adjust your thinking so tackles are for the ball and it gets much easier to see tackles not for the ball.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

When tackling the BALL legally some criteria must be met. The first is that the ball is contacted before any contact occurs with the opponent. The second is the tackler must do what he can to avoid contact. That is to say keep his feet and legs down. If he does this, then he has NOT tripped an opponent. Rather, the opponent has tripped over him or the ball. At higher levels of play, watch the replays as you'll see dive after dive after clean tackles.

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