I was watching a football match on television the other evening when, not long after kick off, a player committed a foul on an opponent bringing him down. The referee blew for the offence and the player started to walk away. However, the referee called him back and showed him the yellow card. The player’s body language, open hands, slightly raised, showed bewilderment and a little disbelief.
The television commentator, who is obviously good at lip reading, said the player was complaining that it was his first foul as indeed it was. There is still this belief amongst players that referees won’t take action other than award a free kick against the first foul and it is only if they keep committing fouls that the referee is likely to produce a yellow card for what’s called
'Persistent Infringement'.
There are however two types of foul which are likely to result in a yellow card, no matter when during the game they are committed or whether it is the first foul or one of many.
The first is a reckless tackle. In football
'reckless' means that the player has acted, in the opinion of the referee, in a manner that shows disregard for the safety of his opponent or the consequences of his action. The referee will take into consideration factors such
as the timing of the tackle and the position of the ball, the force and angle of the tackle. This includes what I call the intimidatory foul, usually roughing up a player who is skilful but known not to like physical challenges. The other tackle that attracts a yellow card may be ordinary in other ways and not necessarily reckless but one where the player is fouled to prevent a likely attack. This usually happens in the offender’s own half.
To go back to ‘Persistent Infringements’, in other words a number of fouls committed by the same player but which are not bad enough to be reckless. The question is often asked ‘how many fouls does a player have to commit for it to be classified as persistent infringement?’ to which the answer is that there is no specific number of infringements that constitutes persistent. It is a matter for the judgement of the referee and may be influenced by his management of the game.
Why I say that is because if opponents see a player continually fouling and only being punished by a free kick, they may decide to take it into their own hands and retaliate, which of course referees wish to avoid. Often this will be a number of fouls in a relatively short time period and referees before resorting to the yellow card, will give the player a public warning that everyone can see.
Sometimes, a referee will hold up a number of fingers when talking to an offender, indicating the number of fouls, or pointing out the various places where the foul were committed. There are three reasons for this type of public warning. The first is that the player knows his behaviour has been spotted and if he continues it will result in a yellow card. Secondly, it lets opponents know that the referee is taking care of the problem and finally, if the fouls continue and the yellow card become inevitable, it takes the pressure off the referee. Everyone knows he did his best to warn the player and the yellow card is now entirely the player’s own fault.
Of course the referee must know he’s got the right player. I remember once refereeing at Amersham, when I warned a player that he was getting close to a caution for persistent fouling. He protested it was his first foul. When I looked at his number, and around the field, I realised it was his twin brother playing for the same team, who had committed the other fouls.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2009