Into the Book - Episode 8 - April, 2023

2023 Spring CRO Points of Emphasis

Coaching / Technical Area Behavior: We are two years into the Law changes that allow Referees to give formal misconduct to coaches. Warnings, Yellow Cards and Red Cards can all be given to coaches for behaviors listed in the Laws of the Game. We will give examples of some of these behaviors as well as ways in which referees can deal with those behaviors when they arise in your matches.

Updated Offside Interpretation: While the actual Law 11 has not changed a lot over the years the interpretation of Offside has evolved yet again. We will give more examples of how to judge deliberate vs deflection as an Assistant Referee and a Referee with the new interpretation.

Foul Recognition and differentiation: A big argument can be made that this is the most important part of our job as referees. We will spend some time talking about general foul recognition over the season, however, we will mainly focus on developing our ability to decide what type of foul occurred. Was it Careless or Reckless or did it involve excessive force? Could it be SPA or DOGSO? It is important for us a referees to not only be able to make a foul decision but also issue misconduct and protect players when necessary.

Into the Book - Episode 8

Over the next two Episodes we are going to break down the types of Tactical Fouls that result in either Stopping a Promising Attack (SPA) or Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO). In this Episode we are going to Focus on DOGSO! What is it? Does it Always mean Red Card? The answer to all your questions about DOGSO will be answered today! At least we hope they are, if they aren’t then let us know and we’ll add them to a future post!

Denial of An Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity

Type of DOGSO

Misconduct Result

1. DOGSO Foul / Handball - Outside the Penalty Area

2. DOGSO Foul - Inside the Penalty Area - with an attempt to play the ball

3. DOGSO Foul / Handball- Inside the Penalty Area - without an attempt to play the ball

4. Shot on Goal w/ Goal Keeper behind the ball - (SPA- we will cover this more next episode)

5. Shot on Goal without Goal Keeper behind the ball - Denial of an Obvious Goal - inside penalty area

1. Send Off / Red Card

2. Caution / Yellow Card

3. Send Off / Red Card

4. Caution / Yellow Card (covered next episode)

5. Send Off / Red Card

DOGSO Considerations - Distance to Goal, Number of Attackers, Number of Defenders, Likelihood of controlling the ball

Why is the snapshot important? We must take note of all the considerations for DOGSO / SPA at this moment. Where are the defenders, attackers and how close is the attacker to the ball and can they control it? If we take the snapshot too late, then we will be fooled into thinking the ball is too far away or the other defenders are closer than we think.

We can see at the moment of the hold the attacker is outside the penalty area. No Defenders other are close and the attacker has control of the ball.

Because of all these considerations at the moment the foul happened we get to DOGSO Foul - Outside the Penalty Area and a Red Card.

DOGOS FOUL OUTSIDE THE PENALTY AREA

In this video we see a turnover by the Green Center Back #15. While this turnover is not expected it is important for the referee to see the possibility of the turnover when the White attacker begins to pressure Green #15.

The snap shot is the important part of deciding when the foul happens and what is happening around the players at that moment. The snapshot for this moment happens at :32 in the video. Click the picture to see the snapshot of below.

Snap shot is mental picture you must take the MOMENT the foul happens.

Scenario 3 - DOGSO Foul / Handball- Inside the Penalty Area - without an attempt to play the ball

Important Pre-text to this video. We are going to talk about this video as if the Offside decision does not happen and the White Attacker is ONSIDE.

In this video you can see the through ball played to the White attacker. As he makes his run onto the ball he is held by the Blue Defender. We are looking for several elements to make our decision at the snapshot moment that the foul happens. DISTANCE TO GOAL - the attacker is inside the penalty area less than 18 yards to goal. NUMBER OF DEFENDERS - The only other defender is the Goal Keeper. The attackers next two touches would most likely include a shot on goal. DIRECTION - At the moment the hold starts he is moving towards goal. All of these considerations lead us to decide that this is a Holding Foul, inside the Penalty Area that will result in a Penalty Kick / Red Card for - Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity by a foul not going for the ball.

Scenario 2 - DOGSO Foul - Inside the Penalty Area -With Attempt to play the ball

SNAPSHOT MOMENT

1. Let’s get the easy part out of the way. This is a clear Foul and Penalty Kick offense. Now that we have checked off the first part of this decision let’s look at the second part.

2. Is this DOGSO? Let’s take a look at our snapshot on the left, learning from our previous two clips.
   - Zero defenders other than the Goal Keeper could stop him, he is inside 18 yards and most likely his next shot is on goal. Leads us to DOGSO….BUT WAIT, DO YOU NEED A RED CARD????

3. Next part of the decision that you have to make - was the defender going for the ball in this challenge?
   - It was a sliding challenge, where the defender is trying to go for the ball. Even if it was a poor challenge he was going for the ball, not the player.

All of these three parts of this decision lead us to say this is a DOGSO - Yellow Card. Be sure to read what the Laws of The Game saw about this situation in Law 12 under Cautions for Unsporting Behavior.

Law 12 - Cautions for Unsporting Behavior