Misconduct (football)

Misconduct in football (soccer) is any conduct by a player which is deemed by the referee to warrant a disciplinary sanction (caution or send-off) in accordance with Law 12 the Laws of the Game.

Misconduct may occur at any time, including when the ball is out of play, during half-time and before and after the game. Further, both players and substitutes may be sanctioned for misconduct. This is unlike fouls, which may only be committed by players when the ball is in play.

Misconduct may result in the player either receiving a caution (indicated by a yellow card) or being sent off (indicated by a red card). When a player is cautioned, the player's details are then (traditionally) recorded by the referee in a small notebook; hence a caution is also known as a booking. The referee has considerable discretion in applying the Laws. In particular, the offence of "unsporting behaviour" may be used to deal with most events that violate the spirit of the game, even if they are not listed as specific offences.

The system of cautioning and sending-off has existed for many decades, but the idea of language-neutral coloured cards originated with British referee Ken Aston, who got the idea while sitting in his car at a traffic light. The first major use of the cards was in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, but they were not made mandatory at all levels until 1992.

Procedure

A player who has been cautioned may continue to play in a match, but many football leagues and federations have off-field penalties for players who accumulate a certain number of cautions in a season, tournament or phase of a tournament. Typically these take the form of a suspension from playing in their team's next game after that number of cautions has been reached (two in international tournaments and usually four or five in a league season). Such off-field penalties are determined by league rules. When a player is shown a second yellow card in the same match, he is then shown the red card and sent off.

A player who has been shown the red card (whether directly or as a result of having been shown two yellow cards) is required to leave the field of play immediately and must take no further part in the game; failure to do so will result in forfeit of the game by that player's team. The player who has been sent off cannot be replaced during the game; their team must continue the game with one player fewer. If this causes the team to have fewer than the required minimum number players, then the match is abandoned. In addition, a red card usually results in additional sanctions, most commonly in the form of suspensions from playing for a number of future games, although financial fines may also be imposed. The exact punishments are determined by tournament or competition rules (not by the Laws of the Game). However, FIFA in particular has been adamant that a red card in any football competition must result in the guilty player being suspended for at least the next game without the right to appeal.

However, the English Football Association has defied FIFA with respect to appeals. As of 2006 in England, if a direct red card is shown the player is sent off immediately and faces an automatic three-match ban, but this can be overturned with a successful appeal. The onus is on the player to prove his case and the ban can be extended if the FA deems the appeal to be frivolous. In the case of a red card that was shown after two yellow cards, the player is sent off and receives an automatic one match ban without the right to appeal. The FA's appeals policy is generally seen as quite restrictive and only a small percentage of red cards are ever overturned. Nonetheless, successful red card appeals have become constant source of friction between the FA and FIFA. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has occasionally mooted suspending the FA from FIFA and barring England from international tournaments for its continued defiance of FIFA directives, but as of 2006 had taken no further action.

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, any player receiving a single yellow card during each of two group stage matches, or each of two knockout stage matches had to serve a one match suspension for the next game. A single yellow card did not carry over from the group stage to the knockout stages. Should the player pick up his second yellow during the team's final group match, he would miss the Round of 16 if his team qualified for it. However, suspensions due to yellow cards do not carry beyond the World Cup finals.

When a goalkeeper is sent off (regardless of a second yellow or a direct red card), the goalkeeper must leave the field immediately. If a substitute goalkeeper is available, he can be brought on at the expense of an outfield player. If no substitute goalkeeper is available, or the team has already made the maximum permitted substitutions, an outfield player has to go in goal. This often happened in the period when teams were only allowed one or no substitutes, and on occasion outfield players were known to perform very well in goal, some even saving penalty kicks.

Cautionable offences (Yellow Card)

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

Unsporting behaviour
Dissent by word or action
Persistent infringement on the Laws of the Game
Delaying the restart of play
Failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, throw-in or free kick
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 subsitute or substituted player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he/she commits any of the following three offences:

Unsporting behaviour
Showing dissent by word or action
Delaying the restart of play

Sending-off offences (Red Card)

A player, substitute or substituted player is sent-off and shown the red card if he/she commits any of the following offences:

Serious foul play. This includes a tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent, such as tackling from behind
Violent conduct
Spitting at an opponent or any other person
Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball
Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick (known as a professional foul)
Using offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures
Receiving a second caution (yellow card) in the same match.

A player, substitute or substituted player who has been sent off and shown the red card must leave the vicinity of the field of play and the technical area.

At 2006 FIFA World Cup, for the first time in the history of international football, a player was given three cautions during the same game. The referee, Graham Poll, erroneously did not send off the player, Josip Šimunić, after his second yellow card, and later sent him off when he was booked again for dissent after the game had finished.

Discretion

The referee has a very large degree of discretion as to whether an act constitutes a cautionable offence under these very broad categories. For this reason, refereeing decisions are sometimes controversial. Other Laws may specify circumstances under which a caution should or must be given, and numerous directives to referees also provide guidance. A controversial change in 2004 to the Laws of the Game championed by FIFA President Sepp Blatter mandated automatic yellow cards for players who remove their shirts after goals (shirt removal has been considered unsportsmanlike behavior by FIFA since at least the 1980s, but punishing the player was left to the referee until 2004). Some domestic associations, such as the English Football Association have openly defied FIFA's directive, instructing their referees to not caution players for removing their shirts after a goal, unless other circumstances warrant it.

Restarts

If the ball is out of play when the misconduct occurs, play is restarted according to the reason the ball went out of play before the misconduct.

If the misconduct occurs when the ball is in play, play need not be stopped to administer a caution or send-off, as these may be done at the next stoppage of play (this is usually the case when the opposing team has an advantage in having play continue). When this is the case play is restarted according the reason for the ball going out of play, e.g. a throw-in if play stopped due to the ball crossing a touch line.

If play is stopped to administer a caution or send-off:

If a foul has occurred as well as misconduct, play is restarted according to the nature of the foul (either an indirect free kick, direct free kick or penalty kick to the opposing team);
If no foul under Law 12 has occurred, play is restarted with an indirect free kick to the opposing team.

Non-players

Non-players such as managers and coaches may not be cautioned or sent-off in the above manner. However, according to Law 5 the referee "takes action against team officials who fail to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and may, at his discretion, expel them from the field of play and its immediate surroundings." This usually results in the expelled individual watching the game from the stands (if they still want to).