A&H

Player Takes Shirt Off During Match ....

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Kes

I'll Decide ...
20 mins in on Saturday and the away keeper has just pounced down onto a through ball and scooped it up in his arms. As I begin to back pedal towards the middle of the field, waiting for him to boot it downfield or bowl it out, I look to my left, slightly behind me and am astonished to see away No 6 stood topless with his shirt in his hands. At this point I'm unsure if he's simply removed it for some reason or if he's even been over to the sideline to get a clean shirt on or something, unnoticed by me. Anyway, it took a couple of seconds for me to take the situation in and formulate the correct action in my head. As my cogs are whirring round, his GK only goes and bowls the ball out to him, whereby he proceeds to control the ball, bare-chested, and with his shirt still in his hand, plays the ball inside to a team mate, amid howls of protest from the home team!! Quite comical really but it wasn't viewed with humour by anybody at the time. As he's busy now trying to separate the folds of his shirt (presumably to pull it over his head), I blow my whistle to stop play. I decide on a caution (USB/shows a lack of respect for the game) and restart the match with an IDFK.

Cue the moaning from his coach on the touchline: "How the hell is that a foul ref?" !!

I often wonder if these coaches actually do have any knowledge of the LOTG they are coaching people to play. :wall:
 
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@Kes - after dealing with the caution, I trust you sent him from the FOP for not having the correct equipment. At the next stoppage, you could let him back on - correctly applying Law 4.

Apart from the caution, he will have also missed the free-kick weakening his defence.
 
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@Kes - after dealing with the caution, I trust you sent him from the FOP for not having the correct equipment. At the next stoppage, you could let him back on - correctly applying Law 4.

Apart from the caution, he will have also missed the free-kick weakening his defence.

Good call, but no, sadly I didn't. In my defence, by the time I'd finished my caution procedure, he was fully dressed again. Caught me on the hop though. I still never thought to ask him why he'd taken his shirt off afterwards either .....
 
This is why I love his forum. I know the law and theoretically what to do but it’s a situation I have never seen and I feel like if it happened to me before now I might have just stopped and stared at the guy :bag:
 
Had he just removed an undershirt perhaps?

Struggling to see where you get a caution from? Clearly he is not wearing compulsory equipment, the shirt, so he should have been ordered from the field of play to correct it, and checked before re-entering.

Please talk me through your thought process for a caution?
 
There are times when to card players and there are times when to back off and wonder how they do their shoelaces! Like PF, i'm baffled what you are booking for? Surely the law is aimed at celebratory de-robing and not willy nilly when you see a bit of torso!! I shake my head sometimes with posts on here, youd get lynched up our way for creating a scene and a tenner for the FA for virtually nothing but a rearranging of his attire gone wrong!!!
 
Agree with the last three posts, caution is only necessary if he doesn't comply with your instructions to sort it out.
 
@Kes - after dealing with the caution, I trust you sent him from the FOP for not having the correct equipment. At the next stoppage, you could let him back on - correctly applying Law 4.

Apart from the caution, he will have also missed the free-kick weakening his defence.
Just to clarify, the law no longer requires to wait until the next stoppage to let him back on.

On the OP, I'll be trying to find out why he took his shirt off before deciding if its 'unsporting'. He could have, for example, taken it off to shake off a bug which got inside or on the shirt (no caution) or to flex his pecks at an opponent for intimidation :eek: (caution).

The question remains though should you stop play or allow play to continue. The law is clear, you ask the player to leave the FOP at the next stoppage. So unless you stop play for cautioning him (which you must have a valid reason for), you allow play to continue. If for whatever reason you stop play without cautioning him, the restart is a dropped ball.
 
Something similar in my game this weekend gone.

Defender gives away a stonewall penalty, careless at most. Pull the defender aside for a little word and to pull him away from the situation. As he walks outside the box away from everyone else he pulls his shirt off and throws it on the floor. I blow my whistle and walk over asking what the problem is "sorry ref I thought I was being subbed, but I'm not." Asked him to leave the FOP to get dressed, no problems. Penalty missed, keeper gathers and I wave him back on.

A well known assessor was watching, not there to assess, but as usual comes over at the end and offers advice. Said I "should have cautioned for the shirt coming off, as soon as the shirt is removed it's a caution". I could have for dissent? I do feel he was frustrated at himself rather than me and didn't gesture it in anyway towards me. I had no problems all game and the penalty was the only incident of any note throughout the game.
 
With hindsight, I may have got it wrong. I'm not overly concerned by it, else I wouldn't have put myself up for scrutiny by my fellows on here. ;)
As I said, it was a strange moment and situation in an even stranger match. The general atmosphere of the game compelled me to do something. I felt that simply allowing play to continue at that moment would have undermined my match control and game management. I'd already dished out 1 caution for dissent and had stopped play twice already in order for dog crap to be removed from the playing surface. It all seemed a bit surreal at the time. The match finished 0-0 (my first ever goalless draw in over 6 years refereeing). The caution I issued (as already mentioned) I passed off as "shows a lack of respect for the game". Those of you insisting that a yellow card for removing your shirt during a goal celebration is correct, but that simply removing your shirt for any other reason is okay (and yes, I'm looking at you Yorkshire!! :p ) would do well to remember the thread on here not so long back about when it is or isn't okay for a player to leave the field without the ref's permission. ;) My own opinion is that I failed by just not firstly simply asking him why he'd removed his shirt. Rightly or wrongly, it happened, and I just thought I'd share it with the forum. I'll be better equipped to deal with another instance like this should it happen again. :)
 
There are times when to card players and there are times when to back off and wonder how they do their shoelaces! Like PF, i'm baffled what you are booking for? Surely the law is aimed at celebratory de-robing and not willy nilly when you see a bit of torso!! I shake my head sometimes with posts on here, youd get lynched up our way for creating a scene and a tenner for the FA for virtually nothing but a rearranging of his attire gone wrong!!!

There's nobody "up your way" that's hard enough to lynch me Yorkshire. ;)

Ave it .... :p:D
 
I had something similar on the weekend but I was slightly compassionate to the situation. Everyone was kitted up for really cold weather with the majority of players having under shirts on (including myself). It turned out to be mild with sunny spells and about 5 players took their shirts off (within a 10 minute period) when the ball was out of play. I didn't think it warranted a caution (or 5 in this case) but it did cross my mind. I did instead order the players to leave the field of play and warned the captains this shouldn't happen without my attention.

Would I really have been pulled up for this by an assessor?

Where do people stand with gloves for the icey days...? (que abuse)
 
@Kes - after dealing with the caution, I trust you sent him from the FOP for not having the correct equipment. At the next stoppage, you could let him back on - correctly applying Law 4.

Apart from the caution, he will have also missed the free-kick weakening his defence.

Hate to question you Lincs - but doesn't HAVE to be a stoppage now does it?

Equipmnet has to re-checked though, so if on your own, obviously has to be at a stoppage so equipment can be checked, but if with neutral ARs law allows them to check and player to re-enter without waiting for a stoppage I think.
 
There's nobody "up your way" that's hard enough to lynch me Yorkshire. ;)

Ave it .... :p:D
They eat Suvverners for breakfast up here! But, having a name like Kes may allow you over the border at least. But don’t try any of that Somerset ‘hello my lover’ stuff, that may scare the whippets!
 
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They eat Suvverners for breakfast up here! But, having a name like Kes may allow you over the border at least. But don’t try any of that Somerset ‘hello my lover’ stuff, that may scare the whippets!
Lol.
The only Somerset in my blood is the cider mate.
I'm from further North than any cloth cap wearer. ..
 
Lol.
The only Somerset in my blood is the cider mate.
I'm from further North than any cloth cap wearer. ..
Gud lad, when did you move to the Sarf? I'm in Hereford tonight so I may need an interpreter in the bar later!!! :p:eek:
 
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