Question Number: 1193

Law 5 - The Referee

RE: Rec Under 12

Robert Gardner of Irvine, CA USA asks...

Regarding advantage: An attacker took a shot from the 18 yard line, just outside the box. Right after his shot he was taken out by a missed slide tackle. The shot went wide and I was about to blow the whistle for the foul when I noticed another attacker heading for the ball in an attempt to kick the ball in. Seemed like an obvious advantage situation so I let play continue...However, the second attacker missed the ball and it continued across the goal line...Was there an advantage here that was missed by the attacking team, resulting in a goal kick? Or did the advantage fail to materialize, so the DFK should be awarded? Would the situation be different if the second attacker had hit the ball but missed the goal? What if he hit the ball but not with great control, such as a slide? If he had scored, I assume the goal should have been allowed...(What did I do? I stood dazed in confusion!! I finally went with a GK but in retrospect I believe I should have award a DFK.)

Answer provided by Referee stewart 10/10/2000

Advantage can be a hard one to call sometimes and inevitably we sometimes get the call wrong. It can be very satisfying when it goes well but frustrating when we look as if we missed the call. When you give advantage, it is possible to bring back play to the original free kick, but this must be done within 2-3 seconds. This should give you enough time to judge whether a realistic advantage can be taken by the fouled team. If you have given advantage and the player simply mishits a good opportunity or misses an easy chance, then thats hardlines on the team that failed to take advantage. If it is a very hard chance that has little chance of success then the better option may be to blow for the free kick. It is a law that will provide more successful calls as experience grows, but even the best referees sometimes get it wrong. In your situation, I think you made the correct call once advantage had been applied, although in future you may be better experienced to decide that it should have been the original free kick.

Answer provided by Referee Victor Matheson 10/13/2000

Tough call. In general, if the player gets the shot off cleanly, I would not call the foul. If the foul or the intimidation from an impending foul caused the shot to go astray, I would go back and call the foul. In either case, it is worth the effort to verbally warn the defender about the foul just to show the other team you saw the infraction. As for the advantage, it is not your fault the attacker missed the ball and the foul did not affect the play, so you could easily just play on.

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