Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
IMO it's about common sense although I realise that is not as common as the name implies.
Player is bearing down on goal, the last defender 'takes one for the team' by fouling them then what is an appropriate punishment?
It depends where the offence is and whether there is any chance of a covering defender getting there.
If it's in the box then I think a yellow card and penalty is enough, the team still gets their goal-scoring opportunity - arguably a better goal-scoring opportunity than the original chance.
Outside the box then it's trickier because a freekick with the defence back and a wall is not a clear opportunity to score. What do you do then? Send the player off? Award a penalty anyway on the basis that the player would have had a chance to score?
That's the problem. When you leave it up to referees to decide there is inevitably inconsistency and people want a clear rule. When you have a blanket rule people want there to be a level of interpretation. Knowing FIFA they'll make it worse.

Maybe you could leave it up to the fouled team. Do you want the penalty or the guy sent off?