Professional Foul (play)
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In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisions in their rules to dissuade such acts. These either try to negate the advantage gained from such an act or apply additional punishments beyond those for an equivalent foul in normal circumstances.


Association football

In association football, a professional foul involves a defender committing a foul in order to prevent the opponents from scoring, or to deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The resulting free kick or penalty may offer the attacking team a lower chance of scoring than the original playing position, and the defending player therefore has an incentive to tactically commit the foul. Offending players are cautioned or sent off depending on the circumstances of the foul, with the punishment dependant upon both the nature of the foul and the opportunity denied to the opposition by it. Under
Law 12 Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, what constitutes an obvious goalscoring opportunity is left to the discretion of the referee; however, several factors are given to help referees decide. These are the distance between the offence and the goal, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball, the direction of the play, and the location and number of defenders.


History

The concept gained attention in association football after an incident in the
1980 FA Cup Final The 1980 FA Cup Final was contested by West Ham United and Arsenal at Wembley. West Ham won by a single goal, scored by Trevor Brooking. To date, it is the last time a team from outside the top flight has won the FA Cup. It was West Ham's third ...
when Willie Young of
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committed a deliberate foul on Paul Allen of West Ham United, when Allen had a clear run at goal. As the Laws of the Game stood, the
referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
( George Courtney) could only caution Young and award West Ham a free kick, which he did. This provoked a national debate on deliberate fouls that denied opponents the chance to score a goal. At the time, the English game was suffering a downturn in attendances and the chairmen of the
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clubs decided to consider ways in which the game could be made more exciting. A subcommittee was appointed to produce some suggestions, chaired by Jimmy Hill and including
Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...
and Bobby Charlton. They recommended in 1982 that any offence that denies the attacking player an obvious scoring opportunity should be deemed "serious foul play" by the referee and would therefore receive a
red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...
, in order to deter offenders. This was submitted to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) for consideration, but all the suggestions were initially defeated. The rule was finally fixed into the Laws of the Game by IFAB in 1990 and referees were instructed by FIFA for the
1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...
to send players off for a professional foul. In 1991 the IFAB made an addition which deemed that a player who committed a handling offence that denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity should be sent off for serious foul play. In 2016 the Laws of the Game were amended so that a professional foul resulting in a penalty kick would only result in a yellow card, providing that the player was making a genuine attempt for the ball. This amendment was made to reduce the "double jeopardy" of a professional foul resulting in both a red card and a penalty kick.


American football

In American football, the rules regarding unfair acts empower officials to enforce additional penalties so as to counteract the potential benefit a team may gain from a major or repeated foul. In order to get a more favourable field position for a punt or to run the clock down while leading a game, it can happen that a team takes a delay of game penalty of five yards by running down the
play clock A play clock, also called a delay-of-game timer, is a countdown clock intended to speed up the pace of the game in gridiron football. The offensive team must put the ball in play by either snapping the ball during a scrimmage down or kicking the b ...
on purpose. When looking for a lower field position for a punt, it is to prevent a touchback by having the punt go into the end zone.


Basketball

In basketball, teams may deliberately commit personal fouls for strategic reasons.Dudley, Carl A. (26 January 2006).
The Most Important Form of Official Communication: The Pre-Game Conference
", International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, Board #134 Information Release
"In a close match, with seconds ticking down and a team being down by one or two points, a coaching strategy could be to foul and stop the clock and make the other team earn their victory by way of the free throw."
As the resulting free throws must be taken by the fouled player, teams may tactically choose to foul a player with a poor free-throw percentage. This became known as "
Hack-a-Shaq Hack-a-Shaq is a basketball defensive strategy used in the National Basketball Association (NBA) that involves committing intentional fouls (originally a clock management strategy) for the purpose of lowering opponents' scoring. The strategy was o ...
" after
Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
who was a target of such tactics. Trailing teams often also commit intentional fouls late in games in order to stop the clock and get the ball back, rather than allow the opponent to run out the clock. In addition, there are specific rules governing obvious goal scoring opportunities called clear path fouls.


Rugby league

The professional foul in rugby league embodies a similar concept to other sports, a deliberate breach of the rules in order to prevent a scoring opportunity. The penalty for this offence is 10 minutes in the sin bin. The majority of professional fouls are either holding down the tackled player after a break has been made in order to allow his teammates to reform in defence, interfering in the play when making little or no attempt to return to an onside position, or tackling or impeding the progress of a player not in possession when a try may possibly be scored. The latter situation may result in a
penalty try A try is a way of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area (on or behind the goal line). Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining "grounding the bal ...
.


Rugby union

Law 10.2a of the Laws of Rugby deals with intentional infringements.
Referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
s are instructed to award a penalty kick in such instances and admonish, caution (resulting in a temporary suspension from the game), or send off the offender. A
penalty try A try is a way of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area (on or behind the goal line). Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining "grounding the bal ...
can be awarded if the referee believes the offence probably prevented a try being scored.


References

{{reflist, 30em Laws of association football Association football terminology Basketball terminology Rugby league terminology Rugby union terminology