Football Australia’s Head of Refereeing Jon Moss has confirmed his team of officials have now tweaked the threshold of what qualifies as a red card for serious foul play following a controversial call in Matchweek 4 of the A-League Men season.
The incident in question relates to a tackle made by Melbourne City midfielder Mathew Leckie during his side’s 2-1 win over the Wanderers.
Chasing a loose ball, Socceroo Leckie was penalised for a heavy challenge on Wanderers defender Nathan Barrie and ultimately shown a yellow card by match official Alireza Faghani at AAMI Park.
Speaking as a guest on the latest episode of A-Leagues: On the Whistle, former Premier League official Moss told host James Dodd that moving forward, a tackle of this nature will now see players shown a red card instead of a yellow.
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Leckie challenging Barrie during the Melbourne City v WSW game
“Would it have been overturned had it been given [as a red] – no, it would not,” Moss said.
“So I think you’re right. We don’t go around with a tick box as a referee, [checking] whether it ticks every box.
“This is the kind of tackle we see when a player has a heavy first touch. So that would be the alarm bells ringing for the referee.
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“A heavy first touch, which Leckie does, and then he goes chasing after it. He’s airborne, he is two feet off the floor, he lands with full studs onto the foot.
“We’ve said up until this point, if you catch someone on the foot, we tended to penalise that, and we told the clubs we penalise that, with the yellow card.
“So in this instance, the point of contact initially is with the studs onto the foot. However, in this case, it then carries on.
“The momentum carries on above the ankle, and the ankle buckles a little bit.
“So we would prefer going forward that this is our line in the sand. This kind of tackle from the next match round will be a red card.
“The technical panels committee preference would be a red card.”
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Leckie receiving a yellow card from referee Alireza Faghani
Also discussed on Episode 6 of A-Leagues: On the Whistle:
- Milorad Stajic’s concussion incident during Macarthur FC v Brisbane Roar
- Awer Mabil’s sending off in the same game
- German Ferreyra’s offside goal and the process of ‘drawing the lines’
- How to restore coaches’ faith in the VAR process
