United States Soccer Federation

Advantage & Trifling Infractions

United States Soccer Federation

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Objective

The participants will define advantage, trifling infractions and non-infractions, and list the

five factors associated with application of the advantage. They will also provide answers to

several case studies.

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Advantage Clause

Advantage is defined in Law 5:

The referee... allows play to continue when the team

against which an offense has been committed will benefit from such an advantage ...

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Advantage and cards

The letter and spirit of the Laws do not oblige the referee to stop a game to administer a card

for a caution or a send off.

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Advantage not realized

According to Law 5 the referee:

... penalizes the original offense if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time.

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Group Activity: Application of Advantage

Timing Position Ball Retention Always Applied Never Applied

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Advantage - Other Factors

Time & Space Communication

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Trifling Infractions

Trifling infractions were defined in the former IFAB decision to Law V:

...it is the duty of the referee to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of the spectators.

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Non-Infractions

What are they? Why are we concerned about them? How should the referee respond?

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Case Study A

The referee signals advantage after a foul tackle near the touchline. Two seconds later the attacker is unable to control the ball which rolls over the touch line.

Question: What are the referee’s options?

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Case Study B

A defender in his own penalty area intercepts an opponent’s pass. The very fast ball hits the defender’s foot, rebounds from the underside of his arm and back to his foot. The defender gains control of the ball and clears it. The attackers shout “hands”.

Question: As the referee how do you respond? Would you respond differently if the incident occurred near mid-field?

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Case Study C Ball is played to the left wing who is not offside. The

assistant referee incorrectly raises his flag seeing that the player in the center of the field is in an offside position. Referee stops play. Defense places ball for free-kick at left wing’s position, but referee insists that the ball be moved to center of field by pointing to assistant referee’s flag.

Question: Assuming the referee sticks to his offside decision, how do you judge his action to have the player move the ball for the restart?

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Case Study D

Ball is quickly played to an attacker close to the assistant referee. The defender tackles the attacker unfairly. The referee is caught far behind play and it is the assistant referee’s call. He is ready to raise the flag but realizes that the attacker has a chance to recover and be able to center the ball to a team mate.

Question: Should the AR communicate an advantage decision to the referee? Should the AR communicate his decision to the players? What should the AR do if the tackle was definitely a cautionable offense?

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Case Study E

Pick a restart (kick-off, corner kick, throw-in, goal kick, free kick, dropped ball, penalty kick) and list the types of possible offenses.

Questions: Which of these offenses would you characterize as trifling? Could they be considered trifling some times and not at other times? How can the calling of trifling offenses effect game control? What does the Law say about applying the advantage clause to restart violations before the ball is in play?