Now for something completely different
Last night during a game between A and B, one of the A players tried to purposely run into (with malice) one of the B players. Luckily the B player was turned in just the right direction so that most of the force of the blow was transferred into just having the B player spin a 360. However once he came out of the 360, the ball was right in front of him and he cleared it. Unfortunately for the (same) A player, the cleared ball caught him right where boys dont like to get caught.
The A player was carded for his part, but the B player was also carded (for what the ref said was retaliation). However at the time when B player tried to clear the ball, the whistle had not blown, so the ball was still in play.
So my question is: if the ball is in play, can you ever be penalize for kicking the ball into another player?