ITOOTR We all can read LOTG. Most of Law 12 says ITOOTR. FIFA Q&A and USSF Advice give their interpretations for some of what is undefined. Beyond this there still is a lot of undefined and, therefore, open to individual referee interpretation. Not everyone accepts FIFA Q&A and USSF Advice in all matters — both of these have known errors. FA England has its interpretations, too. Some of these conflict with USSF Advice. Which one(s) are right? The answer is ITOOTR. Whistleblower has provided ITOO-Whistleblower below. That is ITOO-Tame Lion, too. If you accept it, then it is ITOO-bluedevils.
JerzyReb. That's uncalled for. You started with the insults. While I occasionally disagree with Statesman,Massref,Sherman and others you can tell by their posts that they know the Law and obviously have a great deal of experience. Your reference to U10 championships was simply rude. What's the odds of this happening? Well, I've seen it at least 3 times and with fairly serious results. Once was obviously intentional and a red card resulted. The other 2 were DFK's and yellows. All were youth matches, if I remember 1 U19 and 2 U16. With so many girls wearing ponytails, it's going to occur. BTW, my creds a lowly Grade 8, 400 match experience, panel member at asktheref.com, youth referee instructor/mentor for our local club. No need to insult Stateman or others to get your point across. keith contarino
Bluedevils. I assume you're a Duke fan? Or maybe a grad? Challenging for the ball is not defined in ATR as you state but, I believe, most of us consider 2-3 strides to be "within playing distance" and use that for defining "challenging". I'd also suggest you send your question to Jim Allen at his website for a more official answer. www.drix.net/jim/
Thanks. I didn't realize Jim had his own site. Duke fan, not a grad. Wish I had put in the effort to apply there.