Question Number: 35832

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 12/8/2024

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello

I have another question about the spirit of the rules.

Why do we rarely see the bicycle kick as a
dangerous play at the highest level? I would say much less than, say, five to ten years ago. Have referees become more tolerant?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
I would say that the bicycle kick is less common than before and players know that if it is performed close to opponents it will end up as playing in a dangerous manner.

I would say that my experience of potential head contact with this action that referees are less tolerant now of these overhead kicks in crowded penalty areas.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Petr,

I would have to agree with my colleague ref McHugh that if anything, based also on my experience and observation, players are penalised for dangerous overhead kicks more often now then they used to be in the past, and that players are more aware of this, than they used to be.

For example, I can remember an overhead kick "goal" for my team, Middlesbrough against our Yorkshire rivals Leeds, which was disallowed just a couple of years ago, that would probably have been allowed in earlier times.

So for me, I would say referees nowadays are probably less tolerant of dangerous overhead kicks (non-dangerous ones being totally acceptable, of course) than they once were.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 35835