Commonwealth Football Penalties:
Offside:
- Player(s) not being in their respective zones.
- Any player violating the 50/50 rule.
- These are penalty offenses that result in a free-kick or a tap penalty. However, the team awarded the penalty may also opt for a kick at goal if they are within the opposition's 50m line.
- Holding the ball: when the player with the ball is tackled and cannot dispose of the ball legally despite having had a prior opportunity to do so; or when a player lying on the ground drags the ball underneath his body and does not attempt to dispose of it.
- Running too far: when the player runs with the ball for more than 15 meters but does not bounce it or touch it on the ground, or dispose of it.
- Holding the man: holding or tackling a player that doesn't have the ball.
- Tripping: when the player is tackled below the knees.
- Push in the back: pushing a player in the back is not allowed (in a marking contest, ruck duel or tackle).
- Taking or chopping the arms: attempting to spoil a mark by pulling away one's opponent's arm.
- Out on the full: when the ball is kicked and travels over the boundary line before bouncing or being touched by another player.
- Deliberate out of bounds/deliberate rushed behind: when the ball is forced out of bounds in a blatantly deliberate act.
- Throwing the ball/illegal disposal: when the ball is thrown or otherwise incorrectly disposed of, rather than handballed.
- Illegal shepherd: when a player is illegally bumped by a player in a marking or ruck contest who makes no legitimate effort to contest the ball.
- Kicking/Kicking in danger: kicking an opponent or near an opponent in a manner likely to cause injury, usually while attempting to kick the football off the ground.
- Center square infringement: any player other than the four midfielders entering the centre square before the centre bounce.
- Interchange infringement: when a player enters the arena without following interchange protocol.
- Runner interference: paid against a runner, trainer or other club official who impedes the play as part of his or her normal on-ground duties.
- Arguing with, disputing the decision of, or using abusive language towards an umpire.
- Scragging the player who has taken a mark: To tackle the player or impede him from taking the kick as quickly as he would like.
- Failing to return the ball quickly and on the full to a player who has been awarded a free kick.
- Wasting time, deliberately or inadvertently, by kicking the ball forward after one's team has conceded a free kick.
- Using unnecessary roughness against a player who has already taken a mark.
- Running over the mark: The man standing on the mark cannot move forward, and must respond if called to recede by the umpire.
- Running through the mark: Other defensive players who are not standing on the mark may not run across the imaginary line between the man standing the mark and the man taking the kick, unless following his direct opponent.
- Entering the protected zone: Defensive players may not impede an opponent by entering or remaining within the corridor of space extending 10 meters either side of the imaginary line between the man standing the mark and the man taking the kick, and extending backwards, unless following his direct opponent.
- If any free kick is paid against the defensive team while a mark or free kick is to be taken, the umpire either pays the free kick to the violated player at the spot of the foul, or awards a 22-meter penalty to the player with the ball, depending upon which penalty brings the attacking team closer to goal.
- Any free kick resulting from an interchange infringement or a line-up has an additional 22-meter penalty applied to it; these are the only circumstances under which a 22-meter penalty is automatically applied to a free kick without further infringement.
- When the umpire pays a 22-meter penalty, he calls time on, measures out approximately fifty meters from the spot of the mark by running in a straight line towards the goals, and setting the new mark, unless the player is already within 22 meters of goal, in which case the mark becomes the exact center of the goal line.
- The referee signals that he has awarded a penalty to a side by raising his arm at 45 degrees between vertical and horizontal and blowing a blast on his whistle. The arm is raised on the side that won the penalty.
- Referees may not penalize some of these infringements if in their judgement the offending player had no intent to break the rules (e.g. a marginally late tackle on a player who has just kicked or passed the ball) or if the offending player was not participating in or affecting the game (e.g. a player who is in an offside position but not interfering with play).
- Equally, a referee may warn teams about technical infringements (especially at the scrum and ruck) before penalizing them. Many consider a referee's willingness and ability to do so as a mark of good officiating in that it reduces stoppages in the game and allows it to "flow".