Foul (sports)

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A player commits a foul by tripping an opponent during an association football match. Football trip.jpg
A player commits a foul by tripping an opponent during an association football match.

In sports, a foul is an inappropriate or unfair act by a player as deemed by a referee, usually violating the rules of the sport or game. A foul may be intentional or accidental, and often results in a penalty. Even though it may not be intentional, fouling can still cause serious harm or injury to opposing players, or even their own players if unaware of their surroundings during particular situations on sports. Fouls are used in many different sports. Often own teammates can clash and foul each other by accident, such as both going for and with eyes on a ball in AFL. Strategical fouls violate the traditional norms of cooperation and agreement to the essential rules and regulations of the game, or are perhaps not part of the games at all.

Contents

Individual sports may have different types of fouls. For example, in basketball, a personal foul involves illegal personal contact with an opponent. A technical foul refers to unsportsmanlike non-contact behavior, a more serious infraction than a personal foul. A flagrant foul involves unsportsmanlike contact behavior, considered the most serious foul and often resulting in ejection from the game. [1]

In association football, a foul is an unfair act by a player as deemed by the referee. [2] In association football or rugby, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play, usually to prevent an opponent scoring.

Kinjite are various fouls that a sumo wrestler might commit that will cause him to lose the bout.

Facial is a term used in some contact sports to refer to a foul that involves one player hitting another in the face.

Penalties awarded against fouls usually affect the outcome of the game immediately, as seen in the examples above. However, in some cases committing a foul may have further repercussions in the form of a fine (penalty), especially in professional competitions. For example, in the National Basketball Association players are given a $2000 fine each technical foul committed for the first five technical fouls committed in the regular season. Players may also receive fines up to $50,000 for committing fighting fouls. [3] Great athletes push on the rules, norms and boundaries of their games in pursuit for victory/success, although there can be consequences for crossing lines and unwanted outcomes such as suspensions or bans from the games altogether.

Coaches are not exempt from fouls. In some cases, coaches can also receive fouls. For example, in basketball the coach can be given technical fouls or be immediately ejected from the game. [4] Two examples of a technical foul committed by a coach are entering the court without permission from the referee or physically contacting an official. In the event of receiving two technical fouls, the coach will be ejected from the game. An example of when a coach may be immediately ejected from the game is if they commit a punching foul.

Referee control

Fouls don't always affect game control, therefore referees need to find a balance for the right opportunities for risks to be let go for the game flow to continue. Risks fouls play in sports depend on the sort of action by the guilty player upon an opposing victim. Appropriate risks, that are borderline fouls, all falls down to the location on field, whether it was really intentional, the type of 'challenge' posed upon players and whether it will impact on game control and the game outcome. Referees try to eliminate unnecessary stoppages, considering the players prior behaviour and whether they have a bad reputation or continual intent to foul. Minor fouls that are often overlooked by referees as they are not jeopardising a players safety, having no intent to be reckless, careless or show excessive force. They are also overlooked when opposing players do not feel threatened of have any anticipation of the foul happening again and not purposely trying to stop play and slow down the game flow.

Association football

FIFA, the governing body of football (soccer), have set rules, which is documented in the association's official handbook. [5]

The main referee ensures that the game is played fairly and that each player follows the set rules. However, if there is an infraction, the referee has the power to stop play and take disciplinary action.

There are three types of solutions a team can be awarded when a player with possession of the ball is fouled by the defending team.

Direct Free Kick is issued when an opposing player commits a foul that is careless, reckless, or any act that will cause harm to their opponent. Most fouls occur when a defender first makes contact with the player rather than the ball. This also applies to a player that handles the ball; depending on the referees decision the offender can receive further punishment (yellow or red card). [6]

Similar to the Direct Free Kick, the Indirect Free Kick restarts the play. The team given an Indirect Free Kick is unable to score from the spot. It first has to touch a player on the same team in order to resume play. [6]

When a free kick is being performed, the opposing team has to be at least 10 yards from where the ball is going to be struck.

Lastly, the Penalty Kick is another form of advantage play when the opposing team disobeys the rules. However, a penalty is only awarded when the offence is committed in the opposing players own box. It is then taken in one spot, 12 yards out from the goal, regardless of where the foul was committed. [6]

Soon after any of these free kicks have been issued. The referee has the decision to take further disciplinary action. The perpetrator is then issued either a yellow or red card, depending on the severity of the action.

As fouls are often the result of a defender failing to touch the ball while touching the opponent, the (etymologically paradox) notion is widespread that a normal foul is not incompatible with personal fairness and sportsmanship.

Basketball

Cricket

Certain dangerous acts are considered unfair play in cricket, such as an intentionally bowled beamer (a ball thrown at a batter above the waist, potentially at the head).

Controversy

The entitlement of a sports person to commit fouls can be abused and used as an excuse to hurt or injure other players on the field. Fouls on the sporting field can be used in a malicious way to purposefully hurt or settle disputes with other players. For example, in a game against Manchester City F.C. and Manchester United F.C. held in 2002 Roy Keane claimed that he intentionally committed a horrible foul to injure Alfie Haaland, a member of the opposing team. This was done in retaliation for a match between Leeds United F.C. and Manchester United in which Haaland was a player for Leeds at that time. When Roy Keane was fouled, Haaland made fun of him and told him to get up and stop faking the injury, thus culminating into the aforementioned revenge tackle. [7]

Another way in which fouls are controversially abused in sport is when players pretend to be fouled by another player. This results in players receiving unfair penalties and the so-called 'victims' receiving free-kicks and other rewards unjustly. One sport where this practice is common is association football. In football, players are known to perform diving, which is the practice of pretending to fall over as a result of an opponent tripping you over. Although diving produces outrage and controversy amongst many football fans, it is commonly practised amongst professionals and amateurs alike. [8]

Referees come across these situations regularly. At such a fast tempo, they have to make a rash decision on whether or not the player performed a dive or they were legitimately fouled. A test by Peter G. Renden was done to determine if motor experience in football contributes to the ability to recognise dives in potential tackle situations. This study showed, experienced players as well as referees were able to pin point the differences. In comparison, fans and novice participants that had little experience to recognise the difference between a dive and foul showed a lower result. [9]

Players also try to intimidate their opposing sides to give them a psychological edge. Fans sadly encourage this sort of behaviour, feeling the tension rise and wanting to see reactions from players as a thrilling scene. Opposing sides like to get a retaliation from other players, forcing them into an aggressive attitude that will lead them down the track of unnecessary physical conduct. This excitement fans get from visualising such unethical behaviour leaves them with the thoughts of such actions being alright.

In some cases, the actual severity of fouls aren't always picked up by the referee during the game. This results in the association of the sport to look into the issue further. For example, in 2013 Townsville Fire captain Rachel Flanagan was deliberately tripped by player Brigette Ardossi, although it was not seen at the time. The WNBL were considering to take further action on the unsportsmanlike foul. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penalty kick (association football)</span> Type of direct free kick in association football

A penalty kick is a method of restarting play in association football, in which a player is allowed to take a single shot at the goal while it is defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. It is awarded when an offence punishable by a direct free kick is committed by a player in their own penalty area. The shot is taken from the penalty spot, which is 11 m from the goal line and centred between the touch lines.

Dead ball is a term in many ball sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it. Depending on the sport, this event may be quite routine, or more uncommon.

Gamesmanship is the use of dubious methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end". It may be inferred that the term derives from the idea of playing for the game as opposed to sportsmanship, which derives from the idea of playing for sport. The term was popularized by Stephen Potter's humorous 1947 book, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship . It had, however, been used before by Ian Coster in his autobiographic book Friends in Aspic, published in 1939, where it was attributed to Francis Meynell.

In basketball, a technical foul is any infraction of the rules penalized as a foul which does not involve physical contact during the course of play between opposing players on the court, or is a foul by a non-player. The most common technical foul is for unsportsmanlike conduct. Technical fouls can be assessed against players, bench personnel, the entire team, or even the crowd. These fouls, and their penalties, are more serious than a personal foul, but not necessarily as serious as a flagrant foul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free throw</span> Penalty in basketball

In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line, a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws are generally awarded after a foul on the shooter by the opposing team, analogous to penalty shots in other team sports. Free throws are also awarded in other situations, including technical fouls, and when the fouling team has entered the bonus/penalty situation. Also, depending on the situation, a player may be awarded between one and three free throws. Each successful free throw is worth one point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal foul (basketball)</span> Illegal contact with an opponent in basketball

In basketball, a personal foul is a breach of the rules that concerns illegal personal contact with an opponent. It is the most common type of foul in basketball. A player fouls out on reaching a limit on personal fouls for the game and is disqualified from participation in the remainder of the game.

In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rules of basketball</span> Rules governing the game of basketball

The rules of basketball are the rules and regulations that govern the play, officiating, equipment and procedures of basketball. While many of the basic rules are uniform throughout the world, variations do exist. Most leagues or governing bodies in North America, the most important of which are the National Basketball Association and NCAA, formulate their own rules. In addition, the Technical Commission of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) determines rules for international play; most leagues outside North America use the complete FIBA ruleset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ejection (sports)</span> Removal of a participant due to a rules violation

In sports, an ejection is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending upon the sport, but common causes for ejection include unsportsmanlike conduct, violent acts against another participant that are beyond the sport's generally accepted standards for such acts, abuse against officials, violations of the sport's rules that the contest official deems to be egregious, or the use of an illegal substance to better a player's game. Most sports have provisions that allow players to be ejected, and many allow for the ejection of coaches, managers, or other non-playing personnel. In sports that use penalty cards, a red card is often used to signal dismissals. In some sports, another player is permitted to enter the game in place of the player who has been ejected, but in others the team is required to continue the game with a reduced number of players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fouls and misconduct (association football)</span> Unfair act by a player in association football

In the sport of association football, fouls and misconduct are acts committed by players which are deemed by the referee to be unfair and are subsequently penalised. An offence may be a foul, misconduct or both depending on the nature of the offence and the circumstances in which it occurs. Fouls and misconduct are addressed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. A foul is an unfair act by a player, deemed by the referee to contravene the game's laws, that interferes with the active play of the match. Fouls are punished by the award of a free kick to the opposing team. A list of specific offences that can be fouls are detailed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game ; these mostly concern unnecessarily aggressive physical play and the offence of handling the ball. An infringement is classified as a foul when it meets all the following conditions:

  1. It is committed by a player ;
  2. It occurs on the field of play;
  3. It occurs while the ball is in play;
  4. It is committed against an opponent.

In sports strategy, running out the clock is the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire through a series of preselected plays, either to preserve a lead or hasten the end of a one-sided contest. Such measures expend time but do not otherwise have a tactical purpose. This is usually done by a team that is winning by a slim margin near the end of a game, in order to reduce the time available for the opposing team to score. Generally, it is the opposite strategy of running up the score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flagrant foul</span> Basketball foul for excessive or violent contact

In basketball, a flagrant foul is a personal foul that involves excessive or violent contact that could injure the fouled player. A flagrant foul may be unintentional or purposeful; the latter type is also called an "intentional foul" in the National Basketball Association (NBA). However, not all intentional fouls are flagrant fouls, as it is an accepted strategy to intentionally commit a foul in order to regain possession of the ball while minimizing how much time elapses on the game clock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foul (basketball)</span> Unfair act by a player in basketball

In basketball, a foul is an infraction of the rules more serious than a violation. Most fouls occur as a result of illegal personal contact with an opponent and/or unsportsmanlike behavior. Fouls can result in one or more of the following penalties:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penalty card</span> Card shown for misconduct in sports

Penalty cards are used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offence. The official will hold the card above their head while looking or pointing toward the player who has committed the offence. This action makes the decision clear to all players, as well as spectators and other officials in a manner that is language-neutral. The colour or shape of the card used by the official indicates the type or seriousness of the offence and the level of punishment that is to be applied. Yellow and red cards are the most common, typically indicating, respectively, cautions and dismissals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unsportsmanlike conduct</span> Penalty or foul caused by poor behavior by an athletic participant

Unsportsmanlike conduct is a foul or offense in many sports that violates the sport's generally accepted rules of sportsmanship and participant conduct. Examples include verbal abuse, taunting of an opponent or a game official, an excessive celebration following a significant play, or feigning injury. The official rules of many sports include a general provision whereby participants or an entire team may be penalized or otherwise sanctioned for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Delay of game is an action in a sports game in which a player or team deliberately stalls the game, usually with the intention of using the delay to its advantage. In some sports, the delay of game is considered an infraction if it is longer than that permitted according to the game's rules, in which case a penalty can be issued. Some sports that have a delay of game penalty are American football, Canadian football, ice hockey and association football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penalty (gridiron football)</span> Penalty in American football

In gridiron football, a penalty is a sanction assessed against a team for a violation of the rules, called a foul. Officials initially signal penalties by tossing a bright yellow colored penalty flag onto the field toward or at the spot of a foul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonus (basketball)</span> Situation in basketball

In the sport of basketball, the bonus situation occurs when one team accumulates a requisite number of fouls, the number of which varies depending on the level of play. When one team has committed the requisite number of fouls, each subsequent foul results in the opposing team's taking free throws regardless of the type of foul committed. Teams under the limit are commonly referred to as having fouls to give, and thus they can try to disrupt their opponents without being penalized free throws. These fouls reset every quarter or half depending on the rules in use.

In American football, an unfair act is a foul that can be called when a player or team commits a flagrant and obviously illegal act that has a major impact on the game, and from which, if additional penalties were not enforced, the offending team would gain an advantage.

Basketball is a ball game and team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Since being developed by James Naismith as a non-contact game that almost anyone can play, basketball has undergone many different rule variations, eventually evolving into the NBA-style game known today. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

References

  1. "Official Rules Of The National Basketball Association" (PDF). www.nba.com. NBA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  2. "Laws Of The Game" (PDF). www.fifa.com. FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  3. "Official Rules Of The National Basketball Association- Section VI,VII" (PDF). www.nba.com. NBA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  4. "Official Rules Of The National Basketball Association- Section V" (PDF). www.nba.com. NBA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  5. "FIFA - Official Documents - Laws and Regulations". Archived from the original on June 23, 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 "Soccer Fouls". Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
  7. Cox, Neville (2003). "Civil Liability For Foul Play In Sports". Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly. 54 (4): 351–376. doi: 10.53386/nilq.v54i4.751 .
  8. H. Morris, Paul; Lewis, David (16 September 2009). "Tackling Diving: The Perception of Deceptive Intentions in Association Football (Soccer)". Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 34 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1007/s10919-009-0075-0. S2CID   143324073.
  9. Renden, Peter (2014). "Foul or dive? Motor contributions to judging ambiguous foul situations in football". European Journal of Sport Science. 14: S221–S227. doi:10.1080/17461391.2012.683813. PMID   24444210. S2CID   29449315.
  10. Butterworth, Liam (2013-04-02). [Liam, B. (2013). sport Monday: basketball Action on foul is up to judges. Townsville Bulletin, 19. "sport Monday: basketball Action on foul is up to judges"]. Townsville Bulletin. ISSN   1327-4317.{{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)

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