THIS week I continue with Law 12 “Foul and Misconduct.” For the past two weeks I have dealt with offences that are punished with direct free-kick and indirect free-kick offences which as I explained last week do not attract any sanctions other than the free-kicks only.

This week I am dealing with 10 offences that apart from being punished with a mare free-kick, a sanction is issued in addition. This sanction is a caution and this is the theme of today’s episode “Cautionable Offences.”

The show of the yellow card by the referees is not a sanction in itself but a communication to the player that he/she is being cautioned for the offence committed.

There are some cautionable offences that need further details as they may not be understood by players, club officials and spectators alike.

Let us look, for example, at players who continuously infringe the laws of the game. Law 12 under cautionable offences provides that a player who “Persistently infringes the Laws of the Game shall be cautioned and shown a yellow card.”

In this light, players are advised that if one commits a number of different offences, that player can still be cautioned and shown a yellow card for persistently infringing the laws of the game. There is no specific number of fouls which constitute persistence or the presence of pattern. Persistence is entirely a matter of judgment and is determined in the context of effective game management by the referee.

Another act by the players which needs explanation is the “celebrating of a goal.’ While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive lest it is construed for time-wasting. Therefore, reasonable celebrations are allowed, but the practice of choreographed celebrations is not encouraged particularly when it results into excessive time-wasting.

Worse still a player is cautioned and shown a yellow card if, in the opinion of the referee, he makes gestures which are provocative, derisory or inflammatory. This act by a player can be interpreted as Abusive Language which attracts send-off and show of red card.

Dissent as another offence is mostly sanctioned as a matter of tolerance and judgment of the player’s action. A player who does not act or dissent from the referee’s decision may be tolerated, but still this remains a matter of the referee’s judgment.

In the same light, a team captain has no special status or privilege under the Laws of the Game to challenge the decision of the referee.

However, he has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of his team.

Week 15.

Cautionable Offences:

A player is cautioned and shown a yellow card if he commits any of the following seven offences:

• Unsporting behaviour.

• Dissent by word or action.

• Persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game.

• Delaying the restart of play.

• Failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner-kick, free-kicks or throw-in.

• Entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee’s permission.

• Deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission.

A substitute or substituted player is also cautioned if he commits any of the following three offences:

• Unsporting behaviour.

• Dissent by word or action.

• Delaying the restart of play.

Cautions for unsporting behaviour:

There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour, e.g. if a player:

• Commits in a reckless manner one of the seven offences that incur a direct free-kick.

• Commits a foul for the tactical purpose of interfering with or breaking up a promising attack.

• Holds an opponent for the tactical purpose of pulling the opponent away from the ball or preventing the opponent from getting to the ball.

• Handles the ball to prevent an opponent gaining possession or developing an attack (other than the goal-keeper within his own penalty-area).

• Handles the ball in an attempt to score a goal (irrespective of whether or not the attempt is successful).

• Attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation).

• Changes places with the goal-keeper during play or without the referee’s permission.

• Acts in a manner which shows a lack of respect for the game.

• Plays the ball when he is walking off the field of play after being granted permission to leave the field of play.

• Verbally distracts an opponent during play or at a restart.

• Makes unauthorised marks on the field of play.

• Uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play to pass the ball to his own goal-keeper with his head, chest,  knee, etc in order to circumvent the Law, irrespective of whether the goal-keeper touches the ball with his hands or not.

The offence is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of Law 12 and play is restarted with an indirect free-kick.

• Uses a deliberate trick to pass the ball to his own goal-keeper to circumvent the Law while he is taking a free-kick (after the player is cautioned, the free-kick must be retaken)

Celebration of a goal:

While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive.

Reasonable celebrations are allowed, but the practice of choreographed celebrations is not to be encouraged when it results in excessive time-wasting and referees are instructed to intervene in such cases.

A player must be cautioned if:

• In the opinion of the referee, he makes gestures which are provocative, derisory or inflammatory.

• He climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored.

• He removes his shirt or covers his head with his shirt.

• He covers his head or face with a mask or other similar item.

 Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not cautionable offence in itself but it is essential that players return to the field of play as soon as possible.

Referees are expected to act in a preventive manner and to exercise common sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal.

Disciplinary Sanctions:

If a player is guilty of committing any of cautionable offences, an indirect free-kick is awarded to the opposing team taken from the position where the offence occurred, unless play was stopped inside the goal-area, in which case the kick is taken on the goal-area line parallel to the goal-line at a point nearest to where the offence occurred.

The captain of a team has no special status or privileges under the Laws of the Game but he has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of his team.

Chileshe-mukuka@yahoo.co.uk, or call 0966/0978 759558