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How late can a tackle challenge be?

Alexander_Jardani

New Member
Would a free kick be awarded if a late tackle against a defender who literally made a clearance out of play occurs?

I did officiate in a match yesterday and the above description happened; though I eventually restarted the game with a fair play.

However, should I have awarded a throwing-in instead?
 
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I think the question to ask is if the tackle was Careless (or worse). For completeness, laws of the game defines careless as: Careless is when a player shows a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge or acts without precaution.

If it was careless or worse then it's a free kick, otherwise it's not.

The timing of a challenge would be part of the consideration you make to assess if a tackle is careless or worse.

Out of interest, what's a fair play restart?
 
I think the question to ask is if the tackle was Careless (or worse). For completeness, laws of the game defines careless as: Careless is when a player shows a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge or acts without precaution.

If it was careless or worse then it's a free kick, otherwise it's not.

The timing of a challenge would be part of the consideration you make to assess if a tackle is careless or worse.

Out of interest, what's a fair play restart?
Thank you!

He wasn't careless and he literally checked up on the player immediately after the challenge.

Regarding the fair play: since the ball had gone out of play, I let the offending make a throwing to a teammate and the latter gave a pass to the opponents.

I hope this decision was reasonable enough with regards to the Spirit of the Game.
 
Thank you!

He wasn't careless and he literally checked up on the player immediately after the challenge.

Regarding the fair play: since the ball had gone out of play, I let the offending make a throwing to a teammate and the latter gave a pass to the opponents.

I hope this decision was reasonable enough with regards to the Spirit of the Game.
The referee has no authority to tell teams what to do on a throw in. You need to either call the foul or not. And if you don’t, the team with the throw is entitled to do what they want—if there wasn’t a foul, there is no reason for them to give the ball to the other team.
 
Thank you!

He wasn't careless and he literally checked up on the player immediately after the challenge.

Regarding the fair play: since the ball had gone out of play, I let the offending make a throwing to a teammate and the latter gave a pass to the opponents.

I hope this decision was reasonable enough with regards to the Spirit of the Game.
From your profile and your first post I take it that you are a reasonably new referee.

One of the things you will learn as you gain experience is being decisive allows you to control the game much better. In this incident it sounds like you were not sure if it's a foul and not sure what to do, so you went somewhere in the middle which is not in accordance with the laws of the game. Follow the advise from @socal lurker. Be decisive in your games and confident in your decisions. Being aware of what the laws of the game require you to do in certain situations helps a lot. Spend regular time familiarising yourself with it.

In regards to if it was a foul, impossible to tell unless we see it and even then we may have different opinions. But you as a referee who has seen it, make a decision, sell the decision, restart according that decision and move on.
 
From your profile and your first post I take it that you are a reasonably new referee.

One of the things you will learn as you gain experience is being decisive allows you to control the game much better. In this incident it sounds like you were not sure if it's a foul and not sure what to do, so you went somewhere in the middle which is not in accordance with the laws of the game. Follow the advise from @socal lurker. Be decisive in your games and confident in your decisions. Being aware of what the laws of the game require you to do in certain situations helps a lot. Spend regular time familiarising yourself with it.

In regards to if it was a foul, impossible to tell unless we see it and even then we may have different opinions. But you as a referee who has seen it, make a decision, sell the decision, restart according that decision and move on.
Thank you very much!🥂
 
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I think some people are missing the point that the ball was out of play when the tackle happened. In this case there is no way to give a free kick: nor can you arrange a "fair play" restart as you suggest. All you can decide to do is give a yellow or red card for the tackle if you feel it is merited (if it is very late, then a yellow sounds very possible). Then restart with throw in.
 
I think some people are missing the point that the ball was out of play when the tackle happened. In this case there is no way to give a free kick: nor can you arrange a "fair play" restart as you suggest. All you can decide to do is give a yellow or red card for the tackle if you feel it is merited (if it is very late, then a yellow sounds very possible). Then restart with throw in.
If that is the case, you're correct, but I don't think it's crystal clear from the post whether or not the ball had actually gone out of play before the contact occurred.
 
I think some people are missing the point that the ball was out of play when the tackle happened. In this case there is no way to give a free kick: nor can you arrange a "fair play" restart as you suggest. All you can decide to do is give a yellow or red card for the tackle if you feel it is merited (if it is very late, then a yellow sounds very possible). Then restart with throw in.
Thank you very much, Dan!

My initial decision was awarding a Throw-in, but this resulted in a pandemonium.

Although I explained that a Throw-in, being the previous decision supercedes a free kick in accordance with the rule of Restart after a Foul if the ball had gone out of play beforehand...

I'll be firm next time!🥂
 
Nothing I have seen in the post that implies this. What makes you think that?
The whole question implied this. The OP was asking if he could do a "fair play" restart i.e. get the team taking the throw to return ball to opposition. As we all said, the ref has no authority to do this. But if the ball had still been in play during the tackle there would have been no need for this fair play tactic, Mr Jardani could just have given the free kick. The whole problem in the OP had to be that the tackle happened after the ball went out. He says above:

"Although I explained that a Throw-in, being the previous decision supercedes a free kick in accordance with the rule of Restart after a Foul if the ball had gone out of play beforehand..."

Which makes it all explicitly clear.
 
Just a bit of clarity here on how things are described. @Alexander_Jardani explained that his original decision was a throw in. That isn’t the same thing as saying that the ball was already out of play when the contact occurred.

If the ball was not fully out of play, then the free kick sounds proper as described.

If the challenge was so late that the ball was out of play when the contact occurred, the only restart can be the throw in.

If the challenge is so late that the ball is already out of play, it also suggests reckless behavior. If the ball was well away and off the pitch, it is very possible that the best decision here would have been the throw in and also a caution for unsporting behavior.
 
Just a bit of clarity here on how things are described. @Alexander_Jardani explained that his original decision was a throw in. That isn’t the same thing as saying that the ball was already out of play when the contact occurred.

If the ball was not fully out of play, then the free kick sounds proper as described.

If the challenge was so late that the ball was out of play when the contact occurred, the only restart can be the throw in.

If the challenge is so late that the ball is already out of play, it also suggests reckless behavior. If the ball was well away and off the pitch, it is very possible that the best decision here would have been the throw in and also a caution for unsporting behavior.
Your last paragraph summarized the whole event.

Ball went out of play —> Foul occured —> indicated a Throw-in, checked on tackled player and cautioned the offender—>...the opposition team protested that it was worth a free kick, but I gave the provisions of the IFAB.

Although this resulted in a pandemonium and it was the fair play that eased the tension effectively.

Players who do not understand the rules give the referee a lot of troubles, by the way!😹

Thank you!🌹
 
Late challenges happen all the time. If the ball had already crossed out of play, the restart is already finalised (a throw in for your example).

Then make the decision regarding discipline, was the tackle careless (None), reckless (Yellow), excessive (Red) or none (None).

I think in a game, selling this to either side wouldn't be too difficult as it makes sense.

"ref! how is that not a free kick"

"Ball was already out"
 
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