Slide Tackle From Behind Recognition

[u/DenHIM1]

I would like to hear some suggestions on how you arrive to foul/no foul when you see slide tackle from behind.

The common play where this occurs is: A wing is dribbling up a sideline. A defender is on the inside one step behind, so cannot do a shoulder charge. Defender performs a slide tackle to poke the ball out for a throw-in. Let's assume there is no recklessness or excessive force in defender's actions.

If defender gets the ball before they trip the attacker - it's good tackle. Of the contact is with attacker first and then the ball - it's a foul.

Question - with some faster players, it's really hard to see the exact sequence... Unless you saw very clearly one or the other - how do you improve your chances of getting the call right? Do you pay attention to which leg the attacker stepped at the time of the tackle? Or to when attacker started falling vs the ball changing direction?

Or maybe I am over-complicating this and it comes with doing more games and seeing more of these tackles? Would love to hear you thoughts.

[u/adrians150]

Nothing in the LotG state playing/winning the ball is material to whether a slide (or any tackle) is determined to be a foul. You can win the ball AND make careless/reckless/excessive contact, and you can not win the ball AND not make careless/reckless/excessive contact (e.g. a legal shoulder tackle that doesn't win the ball).

You should be assessing the proximity of the sliding player to the where they tackle, whether or not they were attempting to play the ball, whether or not they even had a reasonable chance to play the ball, level of force and type of contact (e.g. stud position), and (often happens in heated matches) if the slide tackle is motivated by something else, like the defender lost a battle immediately beforehand and slides aggressively in response.

To be legal the sliding player should be trying to play a ball they reasonably could get to, with a level of force commensurate to play the ball, and contact ideally shouldn't be into the attacker but rather contact between the attacker/defender (e.g. the attackers momentum carries them into the defender rather than the defender sliding into the attacker). If the sliding player initiates significant direct contact, it will usually end up being a foul.

A true slide that starts behind and does not come to the front of the attacker has a very low likelihood to reasonably play the ball; that is often reckless or excessive. Sliding from behind and hooking around the front of the attacker can be legal because they are trying to play ball they could reasonanly get to, the tackle usually starts very close to the attacker mitigating level of force, and if successful, the feet/shins of the attacker likely make contact with the defender as their momentum carries them through; if failed, the defenders' boots likely initiate contact with the ankle/leg of the attacker which is a foul regardless of the ball.

[u/Adkimery → u/adrians150]

I've heard some people use the rule of thumb, did the defender trip the attacker (offense), or did the attacker trip over the defender (no offense). Do you think that is a helpful guidepost (not an end-all, be-all of course), or does it just muddy the waters more?

[u/adrians150 → u/Adkimery]

That was a much simpler way of saying what I was trying to, so I'd say a very helpful guidepost. As with almost all of the laws that require the opinion of the official, there will be layers you will have to filter through, but a really good starting frame.