Question Number: 34668

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/19/2022

RE: Select Under 17

DAVID KUMLIN of SURRY, ME United States asks...

I'm always looking for things to read and watch to help me understand what makes a "good" slide tackle.
Jim Allen and other always include this statement in their explanation, "Remember, that it is not a foul if a sliding tackle is successful and the player whose ball was tackled away then falls over the tackler’s foot."

I have trouble understanding this when I see the kind of slide tackles in this video.
Crazy Girls Soccer Slide tackle!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Af21n09sc
No foul was called and every comment at the end of this video say what a great tackle it was.
Comments like: "The tackle was perfect.", "Brilliant tackle!" and "No foul clean tackle"

In the video, after the tackler cleanly tackles the ball away, the player doesn't fall over the tackler's foot.
Instead, the player falls over the tackler's upper body as she slides in front of and into the player.

Beyond this single video...
I fully understand that a tackle is good if a player falls over the tackler’s foot.
But, is a tackle good if the player falls over something other than the tackler’s foot?
As stated above, Jim Allen and others tell me that it is a not a good tackle and a foul.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
The clip shown is not a foul. The defender has clear sight of the ball, goes to play the ball with a slide, plays it cleanly and then there is a coming together which is not a foul. The reason is that the contact has been contributed to by the attacker and the defender has not been careless or reckless in the way the ball was played.
Put it another way. There was every chance the attacker was not going to get the ball yet continued into the path of the defender and falls over the opponent’s body.
Generally for it to be a foul on a slide challenge the tackler my
Contact the opponent first before playing the ball
The manner of the challenge is reckless such as raised cleats, two footed, Knowingly making contact as part of the challenge in a reckless manner.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi David,
Saying that if an opponent falls over the slide tackler's foot after a good slide tackle, it is not a foul does not mean that any time an opponent falls over a different part of the tackler's body it must therefore be a foul.

What the referee has to decide is a) whether the slide tackle itself was legal (not careless, reckless or using excessive force) and b) whether any subsequent contact that occurs between the two players is just incidental contact (a simple coming together) after the side was completed or a consequence of the attempted slide tackle being in fact, an illegal challenge.

I think one way to look at this is to ask whether the slide tackle was already safely and successfully completed before the contact (with whatever part of the tackler's body) occurs, or whether the player contacts the opponent while still in the process of executing the slide. To judge this, I would say the time and distance between the slide tackle happening and the contact occurring, is important. If the tackler slides in well in front of the player with the ball, gets the ball cleanly with no contact and then the player who had the ball continues their forward movement and in effect runs into the side tackler's legs or body, that's almost certainly not a foul but it the contact is simultaneous with the slide then it's much more likely to be a foul.