A&H

Slide tackle followed by a fall/trip

MumRef

MumRef

Member
Hello all. I am convinced by other threads here that whether someone got the ball or not is largely irrelevant when assessing whether a tackle was careless/reckless etc. I also have noted comments that players can choose to avoid being tripped or can choose to leave a trailing leg and fall. In your experience, would you generally say that a sliding tackle which gets the ball but trips up the player, even if the tackle itself was relatively controlled, would be a DFK?
 
The Referee Store
I think a helpful distinction is whether the defender tripped the attacker, or the attacker tripped over the leg after the ball was fairly played away. The first is a foul, the second isn't.

In general,
  • A slide tackle that doesn't play the ball and trips the opponent is (at least) careless
  • A slide tackle that plays the ball away and then the opponent trips over the leg that played the ball isn't careless.
  • A slide tackle that plays the ball but then goes through the opponent is (at least) careless.
  • A slide tackle that goes through the opponent before getting to the ball is (at least) careless.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one
socal lurker said:
I think a helpful distinction is whether the defender tripped the attacker, or the attacker tripped over the leg after the ball was fairly played away. The first is a foul, the second isn't.

In general,
  • A slide tackle that doesn't play the ball and trips the opponent is (at least) careless
  • A slide tackle that plays the ball away and then the opponent trips over the leg that played the ball isn't careless.
  • A slide tackle that plays the ball but then goes through the opponent is (at least) careless.
  • A slide tackle that goes through the opponent before getting to the ball is (at least) careless.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this, very helpful. Would point 2 be a DFK?
 
If point 2 is not careless then it is NOT a free kick altogether.

On point 3 I would be hesitant to give a free kick if the opponent had a chance to avoid contact but still allowed it to happen, even if the defender was the initiator of contact.
 
MumRef said:
Thank you for this, very helpful. Would point 2 be a DFK?
Click to expand...
Don’t lose the definition of fouls—tripping is a foul when it is careless, reckless, or uses excessive force. Everything we do to evaluate a tripping foul is to decide if it was careless (or more).

one said:
On point 3 I would be hesitant to give a free kick if the opponent had a chance to avoid contact but still allowed it to happen, even if the defender was the initiator of contact.
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree with you, but this is more of a factor at higher levels than lower levels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one
socal lurker said:
Don’t lose the definition of fouls—tripping is a foul when it is careless, reckless, or uses excessive force. Everything we do to evaluate a tripping foul is to decide if it was careless (or more).


I don’t disagree with you, but this is more of a factor at higher levels than lower levels.
Click to expand...
I'm now wondering what the definition of a trip is?
 
MumRef said:
I'm now wondering what the definition of a trip is?
Click to expand...
Don’t overthink this. We don’t have to decide if a foul is an unfair trip, or kick, or tackle--on a slide tackle the actual offense could be any of the three (or might even be more than one). They are all DFK offenses. We simply have to decide if there was unfair (I.e. careless or reckless) contact with the opponent that had an impact on the opponent. But as a general concept, trip pretty much has the has the common meaning of the word.
 
This will get easier as you gain experience. Sometimes it can seem a bit esoteric but it’s not as complicated as it seems. Slide tackles can be difficult to judge but the best exponents of them tend to get ahead or aside of the attacker, judge their speed and angle of entry carefully and normally get the ball cleanly. It is harder to execute a good (and fair) slide tackle from behind, when you have lost control of your body (for instance by leaving both your feet) or when you are executing it at high speed. Sometimes all of these happen at the same time and this tends to be when defenders ‘go through’ the attacker and can cause a serious injury. My personal view is that slide tackles are innately risky and that a defender has to do quite a bit right to avoid a ‘trip’ from occurring.
 
Context as well… what football expects with high level older youth or adults may be different from grassroots and younger kids.

I’m thinking of the classic strong sliding tackle by the full back from the side. On TV this may be normal and expected. Even though it might involve a lot of contact after the ball. But in a different context, if you’ve got u14s in the rain and you’ve just given a warning about sliding tackles, your decision might be different.
 
MumRef said:
I'm now wondering what the definition of a trip is?
Click to expand...
The word "trip" has multiple meanings but the closest to what we're talking about, is probably the phrasal verb which (according to the Cambridge online dictionary) means:

to make someone fall by putting your foot in front of the other person's foot
Click to expand...

In a football context I think it has a slightly wider definition since a player can also be tripped from behind or from the side but it basically involves making contact with the opponent's feet or legs in such a way as to make them stumble and/or fall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top