Delaying the restart of play to show a card is not seen often. It can happen when an attacking team takes a quick free kick. But is a card still needed then? In which cases it is needed? That’s what you’ll learn in this case study. A match situation A nice example of a quick restart is what you see in the following situation in the Saudi League between Al Nassr and Al Ettifaq. You see there’s a defender making a handball offence, but the referee is allowing a quick free kick. That results in an attacker one on one with the goalkeeper and he gets fouled outside the penalty area. What would you decide? A free kick for the handball or a free kick for the DOGSO offence? And what about disciplinairy actions? Have a look first and make your call! Below the clip you’ll get an explanation based on the Laws of the Game. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken Een bericht gedeeld door sport tv (@sporttvportugal) When to show yellows for handballs? Handballs are not always a yellow card. A big misunderstanding, because apparently people assume it’s unsporting behaviour at all times. It is not. The laws are very clear on the handball situations: “A player is cautioned (YC) if they handle the ball: to interfere with or stop a promising attack (except where the referee awards a penalty kick for a non-deliberate handball offence)” Other examples are trying to score a goal with your hands or DOGSO offences with a non-deliberate handball. The part in italic is crucial here. The laws on delaying the restart Firstly, we need to determin whether the handball offence is stopping a promising attack. Control of the ball is difficult to spot, but because there’s a defender in that area (you’ll see him after the foul) it might not even be promising without control of the ball. But, what if we go for it and the referee has decided to caution a player. Can you then restart play? The law says: “play must not be restarted until the sanction has been administered, unless the non-offending team takes a quick free kick, has a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the referee has not started the disciplinary sanction procedure.” So far, so good. That’s exactly the case in the clip above. So, what to decide? Yes, the handball offence can be seen as unsporting behaviour at the moment it stops a promising attack. But in the laws it’s not unsporting behaviour by itself. In this case the only card that has to be shown is the red card for the goalkeeper for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. And someone suggested the ball might be moving when they took the free kick. If so, then it’s not allowed to continue as the ball needs to be stationary. In that case the initial handball offence is punished (and not the DOGSO). You got that one right? Let me know in the comments. And share your unique situations there as well or DM me a clip on Instagram.
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