Question Number: 27953

Character, Attitude and Control 10/29/2013

RE: Under 17

Brent of Frisco, TX USA asks...

I feel I was illegally red carded in a game where a female linesman overruled the head ref's call of awarding my team a penalty kick.

I was dribbling down the far right side of the penalty area when a defender along the goal side of me on my left. I decided to try to win a penalty kick by falling to the ground. The head ref decided a foul occured and signaled a penalty kick.

The female linesman raised her flag like it was offsides. She didn't seem to know what she was doing. Earlier in the game, she called me offsides even though the ball came off of the defender's knee. Any idiot knows you can't be offsides if the ball was last touched by a defender.

It looked like the head ref was going over to talk to the female linesman, but the defender got into my face. I know I have the right to stand my ground, so I gave him a slight push to the chest. He flopped to the ground, and the referee gave me a yellow card for that. I don't feel I deserved it.

The head ref talked with the female linesman who apparently overruled his decision. The head ref gave me another yellow card and a red card. I don't think this should have happened, and the head ref's call should have been the final decision.

Plus, if he didn't call the penalty kick, I wouldn't have had to push the defender out of my face, so that yellow card would not have happened.

This would be my 3rd red card this season, and none of them have been my fault.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Brent
I find none of your posting can stand up to any scrutiny and I will point out the error of your judgement here on four counts.
1. Falling to the ground without any foul contact to win a foul is called simulation and under the Laws of the game it is a caution for unsporting behaviour in attempting to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled.
The assistant referee may have seen this and raised her flag to bring that to the attention of the referee
2. You clearly don't understand offside and Law 11. The ball rebounding /deflecting of an opponent from a pass by a player to a teammate in an offside position does not reset offside. It is still offside. Your derogatory term is uncalled for. The assistant gave up her time to officiate at this game and has put in considerable amount of time in training on the Laws of the Game. Even if a referee / assistant gets it wrong that person still deserves respect.
3. The referee can and should take advice from an assistant referee before making a final decision when a flag is raised and held up. Any decision can be reversed once play has not restarted.
4. Raising your hand to an opponent is certainly at the very least a caution for unsporting behavior and many referees would see it as violent conduct particularly when excessive force is used which is a straight red card. Also neither you nor your opponent have any right to stand ground or show aggression. If there was one error made here the referee should have cautioned the defender for confronting you, probably about your attempt to win a foul.
So none of your arguments stack up as to why you should not have been dismissed.
So from what I can interpret here is that the assistant referee may have raised the flag to inform the referee that you tried to deceive him by simulation (falling down) which is a caution, you then got up and aggressively pushed an opponent which is another caution and you were then dismissed for two cautions.
Put it another way had you not tried to win a penalty kick by falling down or pushed an opponent to the ground do you think that you would have got two cautions and been sent off?
Perhaps the next time when you get back to the game after your suspension you might change your ways and play the game in the proper manner and with the spirit of fair play it deserves.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Brent: Great piece of writing. But, you were wrong on all accounts.

The assistant referee is expected to inform the referee that you were faking being fouled. You should be given a yellow card for trying to deceive the referee into awarding a penalty kick. You should be shown a second yellow card, followed by a red card, for retaliating against an opponent by pushing him.

You can be offside when the ball deflects off a defender.

Three red cards in one season! Your team must be upset with you.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

For somebody who admits to cheating you've got some nerve to accuse somebody else of not knowing what they were doing. If she was able to spot your deceit then that pretty much proves she was on the ball, doesn't it?

Deflection does not nullify offside, so I'm not sure where you get the idea it's the AR who doesn't know what she's doing.

You have, and have never had, a right to show aggression against other players by pushing them.

You committed 2 cautionable offences at the one incident - good to hear the referee took the appropriate action on both. Considering yourself very, very fortunate you weren't sent off for violent conduct.

And to say 'well, if the referee didn't incorrectly award a penalty I wouldn't have had to be aggressive with another player' is absolutely ridiculous. Aren't you capable of free will?

Take some responsibility. Had you not attempted to cheat then none of that would have happened and you would have remained on the field without letting your teams down.

You'd do well to read the laws of the game you're trying to ruin and show a bit of respect the the sport, the opponents and the match officials.

Who, remarkably, seem to know what they're doing a lot more than certain players.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Wow, how many things can you get wrong in one post? I'll touch on just a couple.

You say 'any idiot' knows that you can't be offside when the defender last touches the ball. Incorrect - if the ball rebounds or deflects off the defender, offside still applies.

You say the AR (not linesman) 'overruled' the referee. Not so - the referee is free to change his call up until the next restart is taken, upon receiving additional information from his assistants.

And you say she signaled as if she was calling offside. But that is the correct signal. She wasn't calling a foul - there wasn't one because you admit to flopping. So she put her flag up to tell the referee that she had some information. It happens to look the same as a flag for offside initially, but I'll bet she didn't lower the flag to point to far/middle/near side of the field which would confirm she was making the signal for offside.

For someone who admits to at least two instances of unsporting behavior, it's not surprising that you have 3 red cards to your credit - or would that be discredit.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Any 'idiot' knows you can't be offside if the ball was last 'touched' by a defender is not only in poor taste, it's an absolutely wrong statement. Touching the ball does not reset offside. The ball must be controlled by a defender. Shame you are not aware of this.

You have a right to stand your ground but shoving an opponent is not part of that equation. The Assistant Referee did not 'overrule' the Referee. She probably saw that you took a dive and informed the Referee of what she saw. Her raising the flag is absolutely the correct mechanic that tells the Referee she saw something he did not. The Referee then talked with her and any good Referee will listen carefully to his Assistant Referee. The Referee then decided to accept what she saw and that was the reason for one caution. Sounds to me she knew what she was doing and caught you cheating when you simulated a foul. Your shoving your opponent could have been grounds for a straight red card but the second caution resulted in your being sent off and the red card being shown.

3 red cards and none of them your fault? You admit in this game you 1. Took a dive and 2. shoved an opponent in the chest. That's 2 yellows which is one well deserved red card. Judging by your attitude and lack of knowledge of The Laws Of The Game, I strongly suspect the other two reds were likewise well deserved.

You seriously need an attitude adjustment or you may end up being banned from League play. How does your team feel about having to play a man short three times so far this season?