The Ref Stop

Difference between Reckless Play and Dangerous Play

MarcusSurreyRef

MarcusSurreyRef

Youth Referee
Hi all,

Had my first U16 middle today with two linos.

Game was totally fine in the first half, no complaints, nothing to warrant a caution. Gave a penalty in the first few minutes for a clear trip-up by blue player. Blue team complained but I had perfect view and so did Lino.

Got a few tips from senior Lino at HT but overall said I’ve had a great game.

Second half: a lot more feisty. I felt I kept control as best I could and stayed consistent, but more fouls were flying in and so therefore more complaining. One blue player kept getting pushed or tripped, but not enough for caution again. No persistent infringement really either. 71st minute, someone goes flying in, wins the ball but also the man, clear yellow card, no complaints. 81st minute, blue player on attack, opposition slides her down. Blue coach gets really angry saying she wants to end game now with 1 minute remaining because she wants to protect her players. I say we’ve got one minute left, I’ve given two yellows. And we continue and finish the game.

Coach says to me at end she thinks I could have used cards sooner, but I don’t think any offence warranted one. She said some other things I agree with and I replied “I’m learning as I go. This is my first U15/U16 game”. She’s totally happy with that and I go home and reflect on what I did well and what I should improve on.

Happy for some advice for U16 level but my main question is completely unrelated: what’s the difference between Reckless Play and Dangerous Play?
 
The Ref Stop
Reckless is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned.
Dangerous play is not necessarily a cautionable offence, typically high foot near another player, goalkeeper coming out with knee raised as attacker nears, etc.
 
'Dangerous play' could mean two things:
  • 'Playing in a dangerous manner' - this is when a player does not make contact with an opponent but still threatens injury or causes fear of injury while trying to play the ball. A common situation is when a player goes in to play the ball with their boot high/studs facing the opponent causing the opponent to take avoiding action. PIADM is an offence punishable by an indirect free kick.
  • 'Endangering the safety of an opponent' this is one way to determine that a foul used excessive force e.g. due to intensity, height, point of contact etc opponent's safety was actually endangered and therefore the offender must be sent off for Serious Foul Play. You can differentiate this from a Reckless challenge because Reckless does not actually endanger the opponent but had the potential to due to the disregard shown in the challenge.
 
I’d just add that if there was contact, you are considering careless vs. reckless and playing in a dangerous manner doesn’t come into play. If there is contact and an offense, it is direct free kick offense.

Adjusting to a new age can always be a bit of a challenge as the pace and physicality is different. If both teams are complaiming there should have been more cards, it might mean that your reckless threshold was set too high for the match.
 
I'd suggest having a think about persistent infringements (PI) as well.

You describe one player being constantly pushed and tripped - was it the same player doing it or were multiple players switching over to have a dig? If the former, you've effectively identified PI but just not realised that's what you're seeing. And if the latter, PI can still be applied to persistent "team fouls", but it would be expected that you warn the captain first, then act the next time that player is clattered.

It can be difficult (and is absolutely still something I struggle with) to justify carding for a "nothing foul". But managers will pick up on their best players being targeted and it will justifiably annoy them if you seem to have not noticed.
 
Just to piggy back this thread, I have a question that as a L3 referee I should really know the answer to but I'm not clear on.

If I'm cautioning someone for a reckless foul tackle, should it be recorded as C1 FT or C1 RP?

I've heard some suggest that it can't be RP if there's contact and it should be FT, but I've heard others suggest that if it's reckless it's RP, FT is for a general foul tackle that stops a promising attack and isn't SP or similar.
 
RefereeX said:
Just to piggy back this thread, I have a question that as a L3 referee I should really know the answer to but I'm not clear on.

If I'm cautioning someone for a reckless foul tackle, should it be recorded as C1 FT or C1 RP?

I've heard some suggest that it can't be RP if there's contact and it should be FT, but I've heard others suggest that if it's reckless it's RP, FT is for a general foul tackle that stops a promising attack and isn't SP or similar.
Click to expand...
It doesn't really matter... The laws of the game only specify unsporting behaviour. The caution code is an FA admin thing.
I tend to go FT for reckless foul tackles because the reckless is why it's c1
 
JamesL said:
It doesn't really matter... The laws of the game only specify unsporting behaviour. The caution code is an FA admin thing.
I tend to go FT for reckless foul tackles because the reckless is why it's c1
Click to expand...
Still want that BE caution code for when AA doesn't quite sum it up 😂
 
RefereeX said:
Just to piggy back this thread, I have a question that as a L3 referee I should really know the answer to but I'm not clear on.

If I'm cautioning someone for a reckless foul tackle, should it be recorded as C1 FT or C1 RP?

I've heard some suggest that it can't be RP if there's contact and it should be FT, but I've heard others suggest that if it's reckless it's RP, FT is for a general foul tackle that stops a promising attack and isn't SP or similar.
Click to expand...
If the challenge is reckless - I always input C1 - RP.

If the challenge is "cynical" ie SPA or such like, then I input C1 - FT (unless of course it was reckless in nature ;) :D ).

Like James said though, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't actually matter to anyone except maybe some gnome sat at FA HQ compiling stats or something ... :)
 
Same as @Kes - RP is when the nature of the tackle is what draws the card, FT is when the tackle itself is only a foul but it draws a card for some other reason.
 
GraemeS said:
Same as @Kes - RP is when the nature of the tackle is what draws the card, FT is when the tackle itself is only a foul but it draws a card for some other reason.
Click to expand...
🤔 Usually the for some other reason has an alternative code though e.g. Trip (TR), push or pull (SP) etc
 
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