Question Number: 22885

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/2/2010

RE: 8 Under 14

Angela of North Royalton, Ohio USA asks...

If you are a defender, and you are running to your own goal, but your goalie calls for the ball and you stop to try to block the person behind you ( but you don't put your arms out to stop your opponent) Do you get a yellow card for that? In national/ Professional soccer?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Shielding an opponent (without using arms) is lawful when the ball is within playing distance. It is the foul of impeding when the ball is not.

Ordinarily, impeding is not a cautionable offense. But, how the defender blocks an opponent might be judged by a referee to become unsporting behavior.

Factors a referee might consider:

how much force? Stopping and them forcefully moving back into the opponent might gain a yellow card as a reckless act. The action also may be such that the referee views it as reflecting disrespect for the game - aggressive attitude, inflammatory behavior, taunting.

What else has been happening? If there have been a number of incidents between the two players, or the defender has committed a number of fouls already, the referee may need to do more than simply call another foul. Even if the foul itself were relatively minor, the pattern could call for a caution for persistent infringement.

The higher the level of play, the more (and sometimes different) things are accepted by the players. The referee is less likely to caution things the players themselves tolerate.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Angela
There are many occasions when a player will come between an opponent and the ball and in the majority of such instances, this is quite natural and fair. Provided that the ball is within playing distance, the player may position himself between the opponent and the ball. When this is done in a feint to play the ball and yet allow it to go to a colleague or a goalkeeper it is legitimate. Players are also within their rights to turn their backs towards opponents when receiving the ball - and although they place their body between the opponent and the ball, this is a legal move known as 'shielding the ball' as long as the ball remains within playing distance of the shielding player.
'Within playing distance', is the term used to describe the distance in which the player covers the ball for tactical reasons whilst still being able to reach and control it with his feet. That distance varies between age groups and it is roughly about a stride and a half away, but this obviously differs depending on the size and ability of the player.
In the situation where a defender is seen to impede the attacker on a ball going back to the goalkeeper or going over the goal line the key here is determining playing distance and it is one of those things that has over the years been accepted by the players as being acceptable even on longer playing distances. However when the ball is a long way away from the player, then it's easy to justify a decision to penalise for holding with the body.
Many times the speed that the ball and the players travel makes it very difficult to make a slide-rule judgement each time on playing distance, so we give players the benefit of doubt. Players also accept this as part of the game and while they might have a 'shout' they don't expect to get anything. Also as they don't have a good chance of gaining possession of the ball it tends to be ignored by teams and referees go along with that.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

From your description, it sounds as if you stopped but the ball kept rolling. In that case the ball wasn't within playing distance so you were guilty of impeding the progress of an opponent. Had you kept moving so the ball was within playing distance this is a legal tactic as long as you keep your arms down and don't hold the opponent