Open Age lesson learnt today - C4

[HoofItYouDonkey]

Had a good game this morning...except...
10th minute, free kick against blue, chap kicks the ball away, not far, but far enough, was it deliberate?? Possibly. I don't caution him.
Then 3 or 4 more blatant incidents of delaying the restart of play, I don't caution, on the basis that I didn't caution the first.
Eventually lose patience and book the 5th, player complains, probably rightly that I let 4 others go, but tough.
Smacked wrist and harsh lesson learnt.

 

[Raider025]

I would book the first one. Reasoning behind it; no one made him go towards the ball, and no one forces him to kick the ball no matter how slight.

 

[Anthony]

If you say loudly enough is enough that the next similar incident may end up as a caution then you are being fair to yourself and the offending team. If you get the chance repeat the message to the Captain and then no one can complain they were not warned no matter what you had let go before. They were not rewarding you for your tolerance so they will get it by the book.

 

[Mooseybaby]

Another example of they see it on the TV and think it's acceptable.

Kids especially can be terrible for it. A player walks over to take a throw, opposition player walks across his path and toe pokes it away from him about 5 yards. You can see from the look on the kids face it's deliberate, but you might think to yourself, is that enough to whip out the card?

Had a similar one recently, first minute of the game and the first time the ball went out of play. Decided against carding, but gave the player a reprimand and once I had finished with him, said it out loud for all to hear that the next one who thinks it's funny to kick the ball away goes in the book! Players must have got the message as it didn't happen again.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

It's annoying when you get into this situation - first one you give him the benefit of the doubt (maybe he had already committed to the kick by the time you blew the whistle), then each one is slightly worse. Maybe, unless one is clearly worse, you could have tried handling it with a word instead - you may have saved the appearance of inconsistency there.

And yes, the deliberate toe poke of the ball a few yards away when somebody is about to retrieve it is definitely enough for a card.