Section 7: Violations & Penalties
Types of sanctions (Rule 7.1): The rules recognize three levels of restart sanction for an infringement: a re-start (play resumes on the spot for the non-offending team), a free pass (awarded from the free pass area described in Rule 1.6), and a penalty (a direct, undefended shot at the korf from the penalty spot described in Rule 1.4). Rule 7.2 also gives the referee duo discretion to "play on" — declining to stop the game for an infringement — when doing so would disadvantage the non-offending team.
Free pass (Rule 7.4): A free pass is signalled by the referee raising an arm with an open palm and indicating the direction of the non-offending team. The defending player must retreat to the required distance, and the attacking player taking the pass has a limited window (the official document specifies a short count, commonly cited as four seconds) to release the ball once the referee indicates play may restart.
Penalty (Rule 7.5): A penalty is awarded for more serious infringements — such as an illegally defended shot that denies a clear scoring chance, or a foul committed inside the penalty area — and is taken as an unimpeded shot at the korf from the penalty spot, 2.50 m from the front of the post. The referee signals a penalty by pointing first to the place where the infringement occurred and then to the korf.
Common on-court infringements (Section 6): Beyond running with the ball (6.1), solo play (6.2), and a defended shot (6.3), the rules prohibit shooting immediately after cutting past another attacker (6.4); handing the ball directly to a teammate rather than passing or shooting (6.5); hindering an opposite-gender opponent's throw (6.6); playing the ball with the leg or foot (6.7); touching or holding the post (6.8); passive play (6.9); scoring from the defence zone or directly from a throw-off, out-ball, re-start, or free pass (6.10); excessively hindering an opponent (6.11); pushing, clinging to, or holding off an opponent (6.12); playing in a dangerous manner (6.13); playing outside one's own zone (6.14); putting the ball out of play — an "out-ball" (6.15); and exceeding the 25-second attack-zone shot-clock limit (6.16).
Disciplinary sanctions (Rule 7.6): The referee duo may issue a yellow card as a formal warning for misbehaviour and a red card to eject a player, coach, or other team-attached person for serious or repeated misconduct. A player sent off must be replaced by a substitute, and that substitution counts toward the team's maximum of eight allowed under Rule 5.9; if the team has already used its full allowance of substitutions, a sent-off player may still be replaced only with the referees' permission.