Section 7: Violations & Penalties
7.1 Overview of Foul Categories
World Lacrosse rules categorize fouls into two main types:
- Technical Fouls: Minor violations resulting in loss of possession or a 30-second suspension from the field (served in the penalty box) if the offending team had possession at the time of the foul.
- Personal Fouls: More serious violations resulting in a 1-minute or 3-minute suspension from the field (served in the penalty box). The offending team plays short-handed during the penalty time.
7.2 Technical Fouls — Men's Field
Technical fouls include (but are not limited to):
- Holding: A player uses their free hand, arm, or any part of their body to hold or pin an opponent's crosse or body.
- Pushing: A player pushes an opponent with the hands or arms from behind or in an unsafe manner.
- Withholding the ball from play: Deliberately trapping the ball against the ground or another player for an unreasonable period. Penalty: 30-second suspension or change of possession.
- Offside: A team does not maintain the required minimum number of players in each half of the field.
- Illegal crosse: Using a crosse that does not conform to specifications, including an illegal pocket depth.
- Stalling: A team in possession fails to advance the ball or make a genuine effort to attack the goal within the shot clock period.
- Goalkeeper crease violation: A goalkeeper holds the ball inside the crease for more than four (4) seconds.
- Interference: A player without the ball interferes with an opponent who does not have the ball and is not within 5 yards of the ball.
7.3 Personal Fouls — Men's Field
Personal fouls are more serious and result in a mandatory penalty suspension:
- Slashing: A player swings or strikes an opponent with the crosse in a reckless or uncontrolled manner — not in a legal check attempt. Penalty: 1-minute suspension.
- Tripping: A player obstructs an opponent below the knees with the crosse, feet, or legs. Penalty: 1-minute suspension.
- Cross-checking: A player uses the shaft of the crosse between the hands to check an opponent. Penalty: 1-minute suspension.
- Unnecessary roughness: Any excessively violent check or body contact beyond what is necessary in the normal flow of play. Penalty: 1- or 3-minute non-releasable suspension depending on severity.
- Unsportsmanlike conduct: Arguing with officials, taunting, using abusive language, or any conduct deemed detrimental to the game. Penalty: 1- or 3-minute non-releasable suspension; repeated offenses may result in ejection.
- Illegal body checking: A body check delivered from behind, to the head/neck area, or when the opponent does not have the ball or is more than 5 yards from a loose ball. Penalty: 1-minute suspension; more severe if flagrant.
- Illegal crosse (equipment): Using a crosse found to be intentionally altered to be illegal. Penalty: 3-minute non-releasable suspension.
7.4 Penalty Box and Man-Down Play
A player serving a personal foul penalty must leave the field and sit in the designated penalty area (penalty box). The offending team plays with fewer players for the duration of the penalty:
- Releasable penalty: The penalized player may return to the field if the opposing team scores a goal before the penalty time expires. (1-minute releasable penalties)
- Non-releasable penalty: The penalized player must serve the full penalty time regardless of goals scored. (3-minute penalties or flagrant fouls)
- Multiple simultaneous penalties may result in a team playing with as few as seven (7) field players.
- If equal numbers of players are penalized simultaneously from each team, the penalties offset and both teams remain at equal strength.
7.5 Free Positions — Women's Field
In women's lacrosse, fouls are adjudicated differently:
- Minor fouls: The fouled player is awarded a free position — unguarded possession at the spot of the foul. The fouling player must move four (4) meters away.
- Major fouls: The fouled player is awarded a free position at the spot of the foul or at the nearest point on the 11-metre arc if the foul occurred inside it. A free position inside the 11-metre arc places the fouled player at the arc with only the goalkeeper defending.
- Card system: Officials may issue yellow cards (2-minute suspension) and red cards (ejection) for serious misconduct. A player who receives two yellow cards in a game is ejected (red card).
7.6 Ejection
A player may be ejected from the game for:
- Five personal fouls in men's field lacrosse (fouling out)
- A flagrant foul — any act deemed by the official as deliberately violent or dangerous
- Receiving a red card in women's lacrosse
- Extreme unsportsmanlike conduct or refusing to comply with official instructions
An ejected player may be replaced by a substitute after the applicable penalty time is served, except where the ejection carries an additional non-releasable suspension period.
7.7 Crease Violations
- An attacking player entering the crease before, during, or after a shot nullifies any goal scored on that play. The ball is awarded to the defending team.
- A defensive player other than the goalkeeper who enters the crease to gain an advantage may be assessed a technical foul.
- An attacking player who is pushed or checked into the crease by a defender shall not be assessed a violation for that entry; the defender may be penalized instead.