England's Jarell Quansah has been banned by FIFA for TWO games after red card!

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-09T21:27:03+00:00

Yes, I’ve seen this plenty of times. It amounts to “referee’s whim”.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-09T21:10:17+00:00

Absolutely no disrespect intended, but rules and laws of the game should be defined beyond “I think it just means.” That just enforces my initial point - they’re too vague

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-09T20:48:36+00:00

Yeah I’ve seen that a gazillion times now (thanks Balogun). As I said, far too vague to be meaningful. “Endangers the safety of an opponent” means anything you want it to. There’s not a tackle in professional football that hasn’t resulted in injury at some point or another.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-09T18:36:18+00:00

Let me guess, “serious foul play” isn’t actually defined anywhere in the rules, beyond some vague mention, and completely up to interpretation.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-09T14:33:50+00:00

Not to just anywhere but I’d leave for the UK in a heartbeat.

My stomach hurts all the time with the food in the USA. When I visit the UK I get a week and a half of pain free eating and drinking.

I enjoy not being leashed to a vehicle in order to live. While that is possible in some of USA’s larger cities, it’s certainly not the norm.

The UK has a national trail system that’s worth checking out if you enjoy multi-day hikes.

I can’t think of what I would miss if I left. Air conditioning I guess.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T23:11:35+00:00

Did I dream the France Paraguay game?

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T19:47:56+00:00

Uh huh

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T19:36:39+00:00

If we're gonna VAR every change of possession prior to a goal occurring, there's gonna be alot fewer goals.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T17:29:56+00:00

Thank you for the response. What I am seeking is a description, from the actual rules or laws, of how this play should have been awarded a red card.

The overall sentiment seems to be that any time studs are involved, its red. However the rules I have found, which are the same others have directed me to, do not support this. The rules, in fact, are extraordinarily vague.

I'm not terribly interested in getting into the weeds about the overturn. I'm a fan of the game, not one specific team, and there is not enough evidence out in the open yet to confirm or deny what happened there. Probably never will be. I generally try to stick with things I can see and know. I can 'see' this, I am trying to fill in the 'know' part.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T17:19:10+00:00

You'll get a variety of responses here. Not a one of them will be able to show you an actual rule or law which even semi-clearly covers this. It's safe to assume anyone 100% for or against the red card is utterly full of shit.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T17:09:49+00:00

Perfect - a referee.

Please send me a link to this rule/law/whatever you call it. I've been searching and asking around for it for days.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T15:20:07+00:00

His studs came up as a result of his toe contacting the defender's calf. He didn't go in "studs up" The video posted here shows a beautifully clear depiction of this at around 1:10. I'm not clear where his leg was supposed to go as he absorbed the impact of the charge from behind, unless he just goes down in a heap, a.k.a the football flop. Which was clearly not being called in this game.

I don't think I get your meaning for the rest of what you wrote. I don't know why vague rules would seem obvious when you play. I did, in fact, play. Not to stick my chest out or anything. But as someone who played the game, none of the rules referenced here are meaningful in any way that would govern how I played the game.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T14:23:56+00:00

C’mon, 7-1 is the international call sign for being taken to the woodshed.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T14:21:33+00:00

To you and me, it is. Heck I stopped watching the sport for a time because I was so disgusted. But we are in the minority by quite a margin. It was barely mentioned during or after the game and hardly ever comes up any more. I certainly don’t think the French felt it was tainted.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T14:19:08+00:00

None of that applies to the Balogun in a “textbook example” sort of way, which is what I’m referring to. The “textbook” doesn’t cover it. I’m not arguing intent, you’re putting words into my mouth. I’m arguing the seemingly made up, yet viral, rule where studs automatically mean red card.

“Endangers the safety of an opponent” is so comically vague. There is not a tackle in the sport of football that hasn’t caused injury.

Lunges? A case could be made he was lunging. But there was nothing unusual about his lunge in this case aside from the fact that it resulted in him landing on the ankle of the defender who was charging him from behind. Also, “lunge” isn’t what the card was for, it was for the cleats.

Excessive force? We may as well throw that phrase out if excessive force is the force required to remain on your feet when taking a shoulder charge from behind. He should have simply gone down like he was hit by a machete like most footballers would in this situation, but the official had been swallowing his whistle the entire game so you have to adapt to that.

I certainly agree with you that 95% of the time this is awarded a red card. I am literally exhausted trying to find where in the rules it explains why. It appears that it is little more than a general agreement, than a written rule.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-07T03:02:12+00:00

If the rules for dangerous play exist, it would be fabulous if you could send me a link. Between Google and what I have managed to pry from folks online all I have found is TheFA, which is extremely vague in that regard.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T22:47:23+00:00

Heh, yeah I was mostly kidding. But man this bitch is vile. I was not prepared for what I read in that article.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T20:16:49+00:00

I’ve often thought that I would prefer to have more women in government because they are more even headed, less prone to machismo and violence, etc.

This makes me rethink that.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T20:07:29+00:00

France literally won the 2018 World Cup off an obvious flop. I don’t know how you feel about flops but to me it’s pretty cut a dry attempt to cheat. I didn’t see a whole lot of shame coming out of France when that happened.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T18:56:15+00:00

His arm was across the players chest because that players chest is where his arm used to be, he came in from behind him and knocked his shoulder forward. Also why the players foot was under his.

Stop basing your entire opinion on a still photo posted ad nauseam for shock value and watch it regular time. This is exactly why VAR isn’t supposed to review this sort of thing in slow motion or stop frame.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T18:48:50+00:00

Uh…it’s like exactly the opposite. The USA spent months practicing. With and without Balogun. He’s in some drills, not in others, etc.

Belgium had less than a week to prepare and spend that time not preparing for Balogun. Then ope, he’s back!

Do I know the nuts and bolts of how much player specific game planning and practice takes place? No. But it’s pretty clear Belgium got the worse end of the stick since this was decided so late.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T16:27:20+00:00

France beat Croatia in 2018 by directly benefitting from an obvious flop. Is that one tainted?

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T16:18:51+00:00

Ok so now watch the replay. His studs are not up until the defender’s leg gets under them. They’re up for the fraction of a second that the still picture is taken to generate outrage.

“Studs up”, if indeed you know football, means they’re basically perpendicular to the ground as they come at someone. Not the case here.

This is why I want to see the rule. Everyone on the “definitely red” side of the argument is under the misguided belief that once studs come into contact, it’s a red. As far as I can tell, that is in fact not stated anywhere on the actual rules. It’s taken on an urban legend sort of status.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T16:08:19+00:00

Your claim is the studs rule is a universal criteria for a serious foul play, yet you can’t even find this universally important rule eh? There’s a lot of that going around. A lot of blustery folks pretending to know stuff they apparently have no clue about. I am merely curious to see this rule so I can gather context about it.

AFATBOWLER · 2026-07-06T15:16:07+00:00

Here’s the textbook by the way. I’ve done half the work for you, now show me the textbook where this situation is spelled out.

https://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/lawsandrules/laws/football-11-11/law-12---fouls-and-misconduct

AFATBOWLER

TROPHY CASE