[Ashley Donaldson]

Imagining the following situation: I’m on Offense, cutting deep. My defender is directly behind me; extremely close. I rapidly slow down in a straight line (with an intent to cut back under, towards the disc). While I’m still in the process of slowing down (i.e. before I’ve even reached the point of being stationary) the defender runs into my back, because they were so close that they didn’t have a chance to react and avoid contact.

If they were say a few metres behind, I think it’s clear: their fault for not reacting to me changing speed. They had a chance to avoid contact and didn’t.

Conversely, if I come to a stop (no contact yet), turn 180⁰ (i.e. now cutting under) and there’s contact, I’m definitely doing some initiating of contact myself – I think that’s pretty clear.

My question, then, is related specifically to the situation where the trailing player is so close to me that they could not react to me coming to a stop in a straight line.

My intuition says that I should have the right to slow down and not be contacted; even if I’m slowing down rapidly. After all, why should I be forced to keep running if I don’t want to? At the very least, it seems to fall under “recklessness” (17.1.1) for the trailing player to be so close that they have put me in this situation.

But I can’t find a rule that says that slowing down in a straight line is always legal. So what do the rules say?

12.7.1 seems to say it’s the defender’s fault (I was already established in a legal position in space – even as that point is receding from the defender’s position, albeit at a slowing speed – and they ran into that point).
12.7.2 seems to say it’s my fault (I adjusted my movements in a way that they couldn’t avoid, given their established speed and position).

17.4 doesn’t seem to help here, because I’m not sure who is “moving in a legal manner”. Is slowing down “moving in a legal manner”? It seems intuitively like it should be. How about slowing down as quickly as possible in a straight line? This phrase “moving in a legal manner”, best as I can tell, is never defined; other than that of “legitimate position” in the definitions saying “it means you’re not breaking a rule”. It feels a bit circular to me: you’re breaching a rule (blocking foul) if they’re in a legal position, and a legal position is defined as “you’re not breaching a rule”.

Section 17.9 of the annotations (17.4 Blocking fouls) used to clarify this pre-2021: it was the defender’s fault because they caused the conflict of reservations of space. However with that removed, it now effectively says “the one who is at fault is the one who initiated the contact” (again feels a bit circular, since fault is always determined by who initiated the contact).

So all of that having been said, what would be the correct interpretation here? My hunch is that it used to be the defender’s fault (per the annotations), but with 17.9 changed, it’s now the offense’s fault for changing speed. But I’d love a clarification. Is there any nuance to how quickly the offense slows down?

Can I suggest a clarification of this situation in the annotations? It comes up fairly often in my circles.

As an aside, an argument I often hear in this situation is that the offense has some particular right to movement granted to them because They Are The Offense, and the defense has to defer to them. Or vice versa. I don’t see this reflected in any rules, but it seems to be such a persistent misperception that appears in my rules conversations that it may be worth a clarification.
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[Carlos Andrés Bohm]

Hi, when you read rule 12.5 it says “Every player is entitled to occupy any position on the field not occupied by any opposing player, provided that they do not initiate contact in taking such a position, and are not moving in a reckless or dangerously aggressive manner.”
And then the annotations in 12.5 it is explained that “Moving in a ‘reckless manner’ could include running without looking where you are going for an extended period of time, or diving in a way that does not allow you to adjust to any legal changes of movement that an opponent might make.”

For me, following a player from behind so close that they cannot reduce their speed falls into the “Reckless manner” cattegory.

[Carlos Andrés Bohm]

Hi, when you read rule 12.5 it says “Every player is entitled to occupy any position on the field not occupied by any opposing player, provided that they do not initiate contact in taking such a position, and are not moving in a reckless or dangerously aggressive manner.”
And then the annotations in 12.5 it is explained that “Moving in a ‘reckless manner’ could include running without looking where you are going for an extended period of time, or diving in a way that does not allow you to adjust to any legal changes of movement that an opponent might make.”

For me, following a player from behind so close that they cannot reduce their speed falls into the “Reckless manner” cattegory.