Question:
There are two scenarios I want to ask for your opinion. Both scenarios take place during a tie-breaking Kicks from the Mark situation.
The first scenario involves issuing a red card after the referee has blown the whistle to start the kick. So, the referee blows the whistle then the attacking player does something that constitutes a red card. What is the procedure? Does the attacker forfeit the opportunity to kick?
The second scenario involves issuing a red card before the whistle starts the kick. A scenario for this would be the attacking player punches the other team’s last kicker while passing him to the penalty area. Does the attacker forfeit the opportunity to kick in this scenario?
USSF answer (February 13, 2008):
This is one of those made-up questions, right? We would prefer to receive valid questions that pertain to actual games, but will answer this particular hypothetical one. In Kicks from the Penalty Mark (KFTPM) the referee truly has only three people to manage at any one time and the pressures on the kicker, especially after the signal has been given, are such that it is unlikely he or she will commit a serious offense worthy of a dismissal at that time.
There are very few occasions when at the taking of KFTPM a kicker can get into trouble that would warrant a red card once the signal has been given. A second caution or the use of offensive or abusive or insulting language or gestures are probably the only two. We would expect that in either of those scenarios the intelligent referee would be able to manage both sorts of misconduct in a practical manner. The second scenario is more likely, because it is quite likely that something will be said as the players pass one another.
If the kicker infringes Law 12 after the whistle but before the kick, the kick is taken by the same (in the case of a simple caution) player or by another player (in the case of a dismissal of the player involved) once the appropriate punishment for the infringement of Law 12 has been meted out.
If the serious misconduct occurs before the referee’s whistle, that player’s team is still entitled to take the kick from the penalty mark, after the player is sent off and shown the red card.
