Soccer Ettiquette Question: Giving the ball back to the opposition

[berkeman]

I've seen this in local elite team play, and have seen it at least twice in the World Cup matches going on now (amazing come-back win by Germany yesterday, BTW). There seem to be some circumstances where a team will elect to give the ball back to the opposition, based on something that happened in the course of play.

I've found one situation online, where there is an injury to a player on team 1, and team 2 ends up with the ball and can attack the other way, but decides to stop play so that the player on team 1 can get looked at. Team 2 kicks the ball out of bounds to stop play, and after things are resolved, Team 1 inbounds the ball but send it back into the back court to team 2 to continue play. Very nice.

https://coachingamericansoccer.com/features/sportsmanship-upon-injury/

But I think I've seen at least one instance in my local teams' play where there was a disagreement between the teams over a hard tackle where one team got the advantage and the referee did not call a foul, but it was contentious enough that the team that tackled decided to kick the ball back to the other team. Is that part of soccer/futball etiquette?

 

[fresh_42]

This is a gentlemen's agreement and meanwhile expected behavior. It's not part of the rules, and I think it became "usual" in the 80's. A player that won't follow this code normally gets booed by the spectators.

Btw., it's neither soccer nor futbol. It's football. The other game is handegg; or Rugby if played properly.

 

[berkeman]

This is a gentlemen's agreement and meanwhile expected behavior. It's not part of the rules, and I think it became "usual" in the 80's.

Which one? The injury one, or the contentious hard tackle one?

 

[fresh_42]

The referee can also stop the play action, which he does if e.g. there is blood to be seen or another severe injury. In this case the game will be continued by a ball drop between two players like a face-off in Hockey. But in this case, the player of the team who hasn't had the ball before normally takes no action to win the face-off.

Which one? The injury one, or the contentious hard tackle one?

The gentlemen's agreement. The tackles had been harder in the past.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Often if there is a seriously injured player on the field who ever has the ball can put it out of play so the injured played can get help. The opposing team then gets the ball and instead of playing it, they will knock it back to the other team's defense or keeper giving back possession. It's an unwritten rule.

 

[Borek]

And yes, it appeared around seventies or eighties. I don't remember when it happened for the first time, but I remember it being discussed by commentators as a novelty.

 

[berkeman]

https://coachingamericansoccer.com/features/sportsmanship-upon-injury/

I just noticed this page at the link I posted -- Very interesting "Unwritten Rules of Soccer". NIce!

https://coachingamericansoccer.com/soccer-rules/the-unwritten-rules-of-soccer/

 

[fresh_42]

I just noticed this page at the link I posted -- Very interesting "Unwritten Rules of Soccer". NIce!

https://coachingamericansoccer.com/soccer-rules/the-unwritten-rules-of-soccer/

No comparison with Snooker, where the player himself is expected to announce a foul!