If you scored the crucial winner in the final minute or banged in a 30-yard screamer how would you react? A cartwheel perhaps, a wave to your friends in the crowd or maybe a simple high-five with your nearest team-mate.
So how much can a player celebrate?
Fifa’s rules state that: While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive. Fifa directives also discourage the practice of choreographed celebrations when it results in excessive time-wasting and referees are instructed to intervene in such cases. Although it is not a cautionable offence in itself to leave the pitch to celebrate a goal, it is deemed essential that players return to the field as soon as possible. Interpretation is the name of the game, with referees expected to act in a “preventative mode” and to exercise “common-sense” in dealing with a goal celebration. Fifa rules state that a player must be cautioned when:
- In the opinion of the referee, he makes gestures which are provocative derisory or inflammatory
- He climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored
- He removes his shirt over his head or covers his head with his shirt
culled from BBC Sport
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