Question of Advantage

[BikerRef]

Okay so here is a scenario that happened to me this past weekend.

Red ball carrier is running from behind his own 22 and is outside of his left hand 15. Blue defender is running full speed toward him. Red BC sees some open space in the opposite corner and quickly puts up a beautiful high and long cross-pitch punt. Blue defender tries (too quickly) to turn to follow the kick, but slips, falls, and inadvertently slides in front of the kicker, who then also goes down face first (no harm done and absolutely belly-laugh-hysterical to watch).

I signaled penalty advantage for tripping and watched to see how the result of the kick unfolded. Another Blue player caught the ball and I brought the whole thing back to the spot of the trip for a PK.

At the time of the kick most of the Red players were a scant 5 to 10 meters offsides, but because the kicker was inadvertently tripped he had no real opportunity to put his team onside. I thought there might be a slight opportunity for Red to score.

My question is: Was I right to play the advantage, or should I have just blown it up immediately?

 

[Rich_NL]

Play the advantage if you can. An onside red *might* have caught it and scored while the others retired...

I'd have given the red captain the option of where to take the PK, though, as obstructing the kicker is a PK either at the infringement or where the ball lands/is next played.

 

[BikerRef]

I guess I didn't think it was "possible enough" for Red to have caught the kick to offer the option of kicking form the point of receipt of the ball, and I had already given them some of the benefit of the doubt because most of them had been offsides at the time of the kick.

 

[Phil E]

So Blue defender falls over; and then the kicker trips over his prone body...all after the kick is away?

 

[crossref]

I think from your description it's a choice of
1 .. play on, it's just one of those things
2 .. its a late hit on the kicker , so red get choice of PK (where ball was kicked or where it landed )

If it was (2) then by all means play a little time of adv just to see what happens when ball lands, but in reality for a really long kick it's going to be hard for red to achieve anything better than a PK where it lands

aside : normally a late hit can be a real flashpoint, so blow early. But in this case not so much !

 

[Pegleg]

Okay so here is a scenario that happened to me this past weekend.

... Blue defender tries (too quickly) to turn to follow the kick, but slips, falls, and inadvertently slides in front of the kicker, who then also goes down face first .
.

My question is: Was I right to play the advantage, or should I have just blown it up immediately?

So why are you blowing at all? You tell us it was an accident.

 

[BikerRef]

So Blue defender falls over; and then the kicker trips over his prone body...all after the kick is away?

Yep, and like I said it was a sight right out of a Keystone Cops short.

 

[BikerRef]

So why are you blowing at all? You tell us it was an accident.

I blew it up after I saw no advantage could be had.

It was clearly an accident, but it also caused the other 14 guys from the kicker's team to be offside and with the kicker down, no way for them to be put on side unless they ran back to him, which gives a huge advantage to Blue to return the kick.

 

[Taff]

So why are you blowing at all? You tell us it was an accident.

I blew it up after I saw no advantage could be had.

I think the point was there was no offence.

 

[Dickie E]

I blew it up after I saw no advantage could be had.

It was clearly an accident, but it also caused the other 14 guys from the kicker's team to be offside and with the kicker down, no way for them to be put on side unless they ran back to him, which gives a huge advantage to Blue to return the kick.

a couple of points:

1. if it was truly an accident I would have called play on, and
2. even if there was an offence,if the 14 team mates are in front of the kicker, there's not much point in playing advantage.

I wouldn't have too much sympathy for a kicker who puts in a cross field kick and not find touch with all his team mates in front of him.

 

[Phil E]

Originally Posted by Phil E View Post
So Blue defender falls over; and then the kicker trips over his prone body...all after the kick is away?

Yep, and like I said it was a sight right out of a Keystone Cops short.

Play on for me. No offence. It's no different to a tackle that takes the kicker out as he kicks it, someone else has to put everyone on side.

 

[Thunderhorse1986]

I blew it up after I saw no advantage could be had.

It was clearly an accident, but it also caused the other 14 guys from the kicker's team to be offside and with the kicker down, no way for them to be put on side unless they ran back to him, which gives a huge advantage to Blue to return the kick.

The Red players can be put on side by Blue opponent in certain ways (running 5m, passing, kicking), assuming they were not offside under 10m rule.

 

[thepercy]

The Red players can be put on side by Blue opponent in certain ways (running 5m, passing, kicking), assuming they were not offside under 10m rule.

But they can't be moving forward until they are put onside.

 

[Camquin]

While there are opportunities for blue to put red onside - red are highly disadvantaged. Which is why it carries the double penalty.

 

[Phil E]

While there are opportunities for blue to put red onside - red are highly disadvantaged. Which is why it carries the double penalty.

But this isn't a kick or kick situation.
The kicker wasn't hit late, he just fell over a player on the floor.
There is no offence.

 

[Paule23]

I agree with a few people on here, as described there is no offence here. Red player slips and falls over/slides, blue player trips over the red player after accidental contact. Unfortunate for blue, but play on.

Interesting thought about blue being put onside if all were in front of the kicker. Clearly with the kicker down this is going to be difficult so I would give some latitude and allow them to progress after the point they would likely have been put onside by the blue player, otherwise there is nothing they can do to be onside until red clay the ball and run 5m or pass it.

 

[crossref]

Well the kicker presumably got back to his feet and ran, putting g his team mates onside in the normal way

 

[Thunderhorse1986]

I agree with a few people on here, as described there is no offence here.
...
I would give some latitude and allow them to progress after the point they would likely have been put onside by the blue player, otherwise there is nothing they can do to be onside until red clay the ball and run 5m or pass it.

I don't understand this point - you think there is no offence by the non-kicking side, so no penalty. And you agree blue players infront of kicker are offside. But you would allow those players in front of the kicker to advance "after the point they would have likely been put onside". Wayt oo much subjectivity to make this call in my view. Do you have the same view if the Blue player kicks, pulls a hammy in the kick and can't run forward? You would give leeway because if he hadn't pulled the hammy,he probably would have put them onside? It sounds close to making up law which is risky business.

The Blue players can and will be put onside by red playing the ball, or if other onside teammates run ahead of them or if they retreat far enough (to the original kicker). That's just the law, regardless of any unfortunate situation, isn't it?

 

[BikerRef]

Well the kicker presumably got back to his feet and ran, putting g his team mates onside in the normal way

Yes but for the inadvertent interference they would have been put onside quite a bit earlier and could have had a chance to compete for the kick and potentially score.

 

[Phil E]

Yes but for the inadvertent interference they would have been put onside quite a bit earlier and could have had a chance to compete for the kick and potentially score.

This sounds like you are searching desperately for a reason to give a PK?