Game on Saturday, white v red. Red are 3-0 up in a well tempered game, with only one caution to white player for delaying the restart. 90+4 with about 10 seconds left to play and red have a corner kick. Ball is lofted into the box and cleared by a defender to the edge of the crowded penalty area. The ball travels over a red attacker, who turns to face his own goal and launches himself into an overhead kick. Defender comes in from behind him, and heads the ball away. He hasn't ducked his head at all, and is approximately 6ft tall. The red players boot makes heavy contact straight into the defenders face. Strong whistle to award defensive FK, white player is on the floor, though he doesn't want treatment. After a minute of so of flexing/rubbing his face, he gets up and moved back into position. I call offender over and caution.
Seemed a no brainer to me at the time. No intent at all, and he's probably not aware the defender was as close to him as he was, but he's still made contact with the players face, because he's made a reckless attempt to win the ball with little regard to anyone else's safety (in my opinion). However, players from both teams and both managers both moaned that it was an incredibly harsh caution, along with the argument that it was 'pointless' cautioning him that close to the final whistle. I made the argument that if he does it next week and breaks someone's nose it's going to be 'last weeks ref didn't punish it.' The rebuttal was 'giving him a yellow card isn't going to stop him trying it again'.
Was I correct to caution, or was it a tad harsh?
Seemed a no brainer to me at the time. No intent at all, and he's probably not aware the defender was as close to him as he was, but he's still made contact with the players face, because he's made a reckless attempt to win the ball with little regard to anyone else's safety (in my opinion). However, players from both teams and both managers both moaned that it was an incredibly harsh caution, along with the argument that it was 'pointless' cautioning him that close to the final whistle. I made the argument that if he does it next week and breaks someone's nose it's going to be 'last weeks ref didn't punish it.' The rebuttal was 'giving him a yellow card isn't going to stop him trying it again'.
Was I correct to caution, or was it a tad harsh?
