Why the Heck Didn't He Call That!

The Laws of the Game describe fouls and misconduct in very simple terms. Some offenses need only be committed to be considered as an infraction while in other cases the referee must determine that the offense was committed in a manner that was careless, reckless, or involved excessive force.

The challenge for the referee is to maintain a flow to the game while at the same time ensuring that the game is played safely and within the Laws. An essential aspect of soccer refereeing is embodied in the following quotation:

"The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view, it is the duty of referees to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators."

In practice, this means that a referee's interpretation of fouls and misconduct is a broad spectrum of grays and relatively little that is black and white.

There is an important sequence of events before the whistle may, or may not, be blown.

First, the referee must have actually seen the action in question. The referee cannot punish a player for acts he or his assistant referees did not observe. This can be due to poor positioning, one or more players may be blocking the view of the referee, or the referee may have been looking at some other action at that exact moment in time. What may have been obvious to a spectator on the sideline may not have been seen clearly by the referee on the field of play.

If we assume that the referee did observe the action, he or she must decide, in a very short period of time, if the action was a foul. An example is a player who slides from the side to tackle the ball and the attacker ends up going head over heals. The referee must decide if the defender tripped the attacker or if the attacker actually tripped over the defender? If the defender slides immediately in front of the attacker and tackles the ball, the attacker most likely tripped over the defender. If the defender first contacts the attacker's legs from the side, then the defender may well have fouled the attacker.

If the referee decides that an action he or she saw is an infraction of the Laws of the Game, the referee must then decide if it was a trifling infraction. The referee's thought process shifts towards deciding: "do I need to stop the game to deal with what I just saw or can I allow play continue with no significant effect?" In the case of what he feels is a trifling infraction, the referee may say or do nothing. Again, the referee, a coach, or spectator may have seen the very same thing: the referee may determine that it was a trifling offense and simply allow play to ontinue while a coach or spectator may be of the opinion that play should be stopped and a free kick awarded. It is the opinion of the referee that matters.

If a referee determines that a foul was committed and that it was not a trifling breach of the Laws, he must then decide if the team that was fouled would be better served by allowing play to continue, awarding the advantage, or if the offended team would benefit more by stopping play and awarding a free kick. For example: an attacker is clearly tripped as he or she approaches the opponent's penalty area, but an immediate consequence of the foul is that the ball goes to a teammate who can continue the attack into the penalty area. The referee may well decide to apply the advantage, allowing play to continue in spite of the foul. The referee saw the act, determined that it was a foul, decided that it was not trifling, but determined that the team that was fouled would have a superior opportunity if the referee allowed play to continue than if he decided to stop play and award a free kick.

Only after the referee sees the act, determines that it was a foul, decides that it was not trifling, and finally decides that the offended team would not benefit more by allowing play to continue, does he or she blow the whistle to stop play and award a free kick.

If you were wondering why it takes him so darned long to do so sometimes….this may be why!