Professional foul

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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.

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Various sports contain provisions in their rules to dissuade such acts. These either try to negate the advantage gained from such an act or apply additional punishments beyond those for an equivalent foul in normal circumstances.

Association football

In association football, a professional foul involves a defender committing a foul in order to prevent the opponents from scoring, or to deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). [1] The resulting free kick or penalty may offer the attacking team a lower chance of scoring than the original playing position, and the defending player therefore has an incentive to tactically commit the foul. [2] Offending players are cautioned or sent off in accordance with the circumstances of the foul, with the punishment dependent upon both the nature of the foul and the opportunity denied to the opposition by it. [3]

Under Law 12, what constitutes an obvious goalscoring opportunity is left to the discretion of the referee; however, several factors are given to help referees decide. These are the distance between the offence and the goal, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball, the direction of the play, and the location and number of defenders. [4]

History

The concept gained attention in association football after an incident in the 1980 FA Cup Final when Willie Young of Arsenal committed a deliberate foul on Paul Allen of West Ham United, when Allen had a clear run at goal. As the Laws of the Game stood, the referee (George Courtney) could only caution Young and award West Ham a free kick, which he did. This provoked a national debate on deliberate fouls that denied opponents the chance to score a goal.

At the time, the English game was suffering a downturn in attendances and the chairmen of the Football League clubs decided to consider ways in which the game could be made more exciting. A subcommittee was appointed to produce some suggestions, chaired by Jimmy Hill and including Matt Busby and Bobby Charlton.[ citation needed ] They recommended in 1982 that any offence that denies the attacking player an obvious scoring opportunity should be deemed "serious foul play" by the referee and would therefore receive a red card, in order to deter offenders. However, the FA's refereeing committee abolished the rule in July 1983. [5] The rule was finally fixed into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 1990 and referees were instructed by FIFA for the 1990 World Cup to send players off for a professional foul. [6] In 1991 the IFAB made an addition which deemed that a player who committed a handling offence that denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity should be sent off for serious foul play. [1]

In 2016 the Laws of the Game were amended so that a foul resulting in a penalty kick would only result in a yellow card – providing that the player was making a genuine attempt for the ball – in order to reduce the "double jeopardy" of both a red card and a penalty kick. Referees are still permitted to send players off for serious misconduct committed in the penalty area, such as those where no attempt to legally play the ball was made. [7]

American football

In American football, the rules regarding unfair acts empower officials to enforce additional penalties so as to counteract the potential benefit a team may gain from a major or repeated foul.

In order to get a more favourable field position for a punt or to run the clock down while leading a game, it can happen that a team takes a delay of game penalty of five yards by running down the play clock on purpose. [8] When looking for a lower field position for a punt, it is to prevent a touchback by having the punt go into the end zone.

Basketball

In basketball, teams may deliberately commit personal fouls for strategic reasons. [9] As the resulting free throws must be taken by the fouled player, teams may tactically choose to foul a player with a poor free-throw percentage. This became known as "Hack-a-Shaq" after Shaquille O'Neal who was a target of such tactics. Trailing teams often also commit intentional fouls late in games in order to stop the clock and get the ball back, rather than allow the opponent to run out the clock.

In addition, there are specific rules governing obvious goal scoring opportunities called clear path fouls.

Rugby league

The professional foul in rugby league embodies a similar concept to other sports, a deliberate breach of the rules in order to prevent a scoring opportunity. The penalty for this offence is 10 minutes in the sin bin.

The majority of professional fouls are either holding down the tackled player after a break has been made in order to allow his teammates to reform in defence, interfering in the play when making little or no attempt to return to an onside position, or tackling or impeding the progress of a player not in possession when a try may possibly be scored. The latter situation may result in a penalty try.

Rugby union

Law 10.2a of the Laws of Rugby deals with intentional infringements. Referees are instructed to award a penalty kick in such instances and admonish, caution (resulting in a temporary suspension from the game), or send off the offender. A penalty try can be awarded if the referee believes the offence probably prevented a try being scored. [10]

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<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 offence is classified as a foul when it meets all the following conditions:

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

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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.

This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of rugby union. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics.

A penalty in rugby union is the main disciplinary sanction available to the referee to penalise a team who commit deliberate infringements. The team who did not commit the infringement are given possession of the ball and they may either kick it towards touch, attempt a place kick at goal, or tap the ball with their foot and run. It is also sometimes used as shorthand for penalty goal.

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

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scoring in association football</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparison of association football and futsal</span> Comparison between futsal and association football

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free kick (association football)</span> Method of restarting play in association football

A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team.

References

  1. 1 2 Minutes of the IFAB Annual Meeting, The Culloden Hotel, Craigavad, Northern Ireland, June 8, 1991, pp. 12–15{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ "Last man David Luiz (Chelsea) hauled down Everton's Kevin Mirallas on the halfway line, only a yellow". www.101greatgoals.com. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "LAW 12 - FOULS AND MISCONDUCT - Disciplinary action". International Football Association Board. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  4. ↑ The Laws of the Game, FIFA, 2015, p. 132
  5. ↑ Nawrat, Chris; Hutchings, Steve (1994). The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football. Hamlyn. p. 253. ISBN   0-600-58824-6.
  6. ↑ "History of the Laws of the Game". The IFAB. 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Denying a goalscoring opportunity: Red card rule relaxed by IFAB". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Titans' Mike Vrabel used Bill Belichick's rules loophole against him". SBNation.com. 5 January 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Dudley, Carl A. (26 January 2006). "The Most Important Form of Official Communication: The Pre-Game Conference Archived 2007-04-26 at the Wayback Machine ", International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, Board #134 Information Release
    "In a close match, with seconds ticking down and a team being down by one or two points, a coaching strategy could be to foul and stop the clock and make the other team earn their victory by way of the free throw."
  10. ↑ "Laws of the Game - Rugby Union: 10.2 Unfair play". International Rugby Board. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
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