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UEFA RAP 2024-1 E1, whose foul? Contending for a ball in the air

C

CrossRef

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Level 7 Referee
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Hi there, attached is a clip from the UEFA RAP 2024-1 E1 sample. Blue and while are contending for a ball in the air. The recommended decision is a yellow card for being reckless. However, I am confused which side it is awarded.

It looks to me there could be 2 interperations, both leading to a YC to either side:
Interp 1: White player jumped at blue player and his arm hit blue player's face, thus considered reckless.
Interp 2: White player properly jumped for the ball while holding his position, the blue player illegally charged the white play in the air and made him fall on the ground, endangering white player's safety.

I am inclined towards the second interoperation, as the white player basically hold his position first, the blue player moved towards him with momentum. White player's direction was strait up, he had a right to his position and didn't need to give it up.

What is your opinion?
 
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My take is white has no intention of playing the ball, wants to block blue, makes a half-ar*** jump that is not an attempt on the ball, regrets it, and then leads with an arm. Meanwhile blue is tracking the ball and then is completely perplexed by white’s non-footballing action and only anticipates the contact late. Yellow to white for me. Really weird in real time I bet.
 
Firstly the quality gif is not that great and makes it difficult.

I agree more or less about what's been said about white. However for me, what blue does indicates he is not going for the ball either. Its a continuous run past the bouce of the ball. He is also going for the player.

I think both these players initially intended to play the ball but changed their intent as they realised it is a close physical challenge. Both could have checked their run earlier to avoid a collision but neither did.

It's a very rare case for me that they should both be cautioned. It will be a hard sell only eased a bit by a dropped ball restart.
 
one said:
Firstly the quality gif is not that great and makes it difficult.

I agree more or less about what's been said about white. However for me, what blue does indicates he is not going for the ball either. Its a continuous run past the bouce of the ball. He is also going for the player.

I think both these players initially intended to play the ball but changed their intent as they realised it is a close physical challenge. Both could have checked their run earlier to avoid a collision but neither did.

It's a very rare case for me that they should both be cautioned. It will be a hard sell only eased a bit by a dropped ball restart.
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Dropped ball restart? Has to be a free kick to one of them
 
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I honestly don't think I'd caution either. Despite the fact they're arguably both guilty of cautionable reckless actions, I think finding a free kick one way or the other and getting both players treatment is the best outcome, in my humblest of opinions.
 
Recap: after reviewing the valuable discussions I changed my idea: it should be a white foul.

Although the white player might have a true intention to play the ball initially when he moved to that position, the ball bounced higher than he expected, thus he lost the chance to play the ball. In this case even if he didn't jump at all, just staying in the route of the blue player would be a foul because the blue player is in the proper path to the ball. In a sense it is similar to a late challenge: you try to tackle the ball but miss it and take the other player running for the ball down. Additionally the white player's arm hit the blue player in the face, it made it reckless. This might not be clear due to the image quality. Refchat limits the file size so I can not post the original video clip.

I've also found the source of the clip. It's from Bosnia and Herzegovina 2:1 Liechtenstein on 8th September 2023, at 63''. From the reaction of the players, blue team (BIH) crowded the referee asking for disciplinary action and white team was silent. The referee did issue a yellow card to white player and awarded blue a free kick, another YC to blue team for crowding/shouting at the referee. All these imply that the majority of the people there considered it a white foul.

The key factor in play should be the chance to play the ball. Suppose the white player did catch the ball (or even just a decent chance to play the ball), then the result could be reversed: the blue player bumps into a player in the air playing the ball, it would be a blue foul and a caution is warranted.
 
JamesL said:
Yes, true. But the original post said 2 yellows so we have established offences 🙂
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True. Think it is one of those that whatever you do you are going to infuriate one team. I do think there is just an argument that it is just a coming together and neither player was at fault.
 
Sorry for not being clear. UEFA says YC not doesn't mention it is 1 YC to which side or 2 YC. They might think it should be a clear decision.
I checked the match video, the referee issued a YC to white player and give blue a free kick. Another YC to one blue player (not the one being fouled) for shouting at the referee after the offence happened.
 
Yeah thats what I thought. It almost looked like a terrible karate kick in midair. Pretty reckless to me. The blue wasn't directly trying to take out white. The white flew on onto the blue with his body.
 
JamesL said:
Interesting take. My view is the caution is for white. The blue player watching and running into/onto the path of the ball. White is the player that comes in and challenges in a reckless manner
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Totally agree, my take is blue is watching the ball and white is watching the man. He doesn't even jump until the ball is past him
 
gman1978 said:
Totally agree, my take is blue is watching the ball and white is watching the man. He doesn't even jump until the ball is past him
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Agreed for white. For blue, is watching the the ball a reason that a challenge can not be reckless?

The blue player runs about 3 yards at the same speed after the ball bounces. After the bounce he is no longer looking at the ball but looking at the player. The ball bounces about a yard above his head but he doesn't jump, or after the bounce, make any other action to indicate he is attempting to play the ball. For me they are both reckless.
 
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JamesL said:
Interesting take. My view is the caution is for white. The blue player watching and running into/onto the path of the ball. White is the player that comes in and challenges in a reckless manner
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I think hes turned his back and done him .. I might have been guilty of similar when I played.
 
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