In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisions in their rules to dissuade such acts. These either try to negate the advantage gained from such an act or apply additional punishments beyond those for an equivalent foul in normal circumstances. Association football In association football, a professional foul involves a defender committing a foul in order to prevent the opponents from scoring, or to deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The resulting free kick or penalty may offer the attacking team a lower chance of scoring than the original playing position, and the defending player therefore has an incentive to tactically commit the foul. Offending players are cautioned or sent off depending on the circumstances of the foul, with the punishment dependant upon both the nature of the foul and the opportunity denied to the opposition by it. Under Law 12, what constitutes an obvious goalscoring opportunity is left to the discretion of the referee; however, several factors are given to help referees decide. These are the distance between the offence and the goal, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball, the direction of the play, and the location and number of defenders. History The concept gained attention in association football after an incident in the 1980 FA Cup Final when Willie Young of Arsenal committed a deliberate foul on Paul Allen of West Ham United, when Allen had a clear run at goal. As the Laws of the Game stood, the referee (George Courtney) could only caution Young and award West Ham a free kick, which he did. This provoked a national debate on deliberate fouls that denied opponents the chance to score a goal. At the time, the English game was suffering a downturn in attendances and the chairmen of the Football League clubs decided to consider ways in which the game could be made more exciting. A subcommittee was appointed to produce some suggestions, chaired by Jimmy Hill and including Matt Busby and Bobby Charlton. They recommended in 1982 that any offence that denies the attacking player an obvious scoring opportunity should be deemed "serious foul play" by the referee and would therefore receive a red card, in order to deter offenders. This was submitted