Question Number: 16510

Mechanics 8/31/2007

RE: Competitive High School

Dave of Portland, OR USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 16473

Thanks for all the answers! I should have been more specific in my question. I wasn't asking in regards to any specific age group or play level; just in general.

Ref Montanino says he has never been in a place in a game where he didn't know the correct restart or solution. I have taken 2 tests - for the grade 8 and for a high school cert. On both tests, even the most experienced refs (including the ones teaching the classes) got some of the questions wrong. (And look at how some of the questions on this forum have no simple or correct answer) I'm sure there *are* folks that have all the nuances and exceptions dialed, but that takes awhile. In the meantime...

Voshol points out that coaches and players would be biased if you asked them. Very true of course. But I guess I was thinking that if it was a league specific rule, they might be in agreement. (Say you're reffing coed and someone yells, women have to take all free kicks! And someone else is saying, no, it's a goal kick, men can take the goal kicks... I guess there might not be any graceful way out of that one. But you might get the same answer if you asked both teams.) Or maybe you're reffing U-7 for the first time and the guy can't kick it hard enough to get the ball out of the penalty box.... I'm not sure there *is* a solution for that in the laws of the game.

Got any more suggestions on the most graceful / humorous way to deal with it when you realize you don't know the law or the solution? I mean, if someone really *does* throw a shoe and deflects a ball into the goal, but at the same time the striker is striking the keeper who forgot to tuck in his jersey....

Answer provided by Referee Debbie Hoelscher

You are asking for advice about how to get out of situations where the spirit and the laws of the game create a conflict? If so, it's really based on your personality, wit and ultimately knowledge of the Laws. As Ref Fleischer previously mentioned, you must absolutely KNOW the LOTG inside and out in order to be confident with what you are doing. If, in the instance you initially wrote about, you think the coach is trying to eat up time by making substitutions, you can continue with the match and pretend not to see or hear him for a moment while the ball is put back into play. Telling the coach that there's only a minute to go in the game isn't nearly as credible (albeit for this particular tournament you had some written support) as saying, "sorry coach, your sub(s) wasn't up and ready to go prior to the ball leaving the field of play." Of course, for this to have credibility, you will have had to employ this consistently throughout the game. Very few, actually do! The Laws DO support "creative" refereeing, you just need to know EXACTLY what the laws allow.

By the way, if you were at last year's inservice clinic in Portland over Thanksgiving weekend, we may have met, as Nathan Lacy and I were your clinicians. The Portland referee association was very impressive. Very wonderful referees and staff.

Cheers,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The Spirit of the Game is something very important for a referee to develop within. That way, if you don't know exactly what to do by the Law, you will be able to fall back on the Spirit to generate a fair result.

An example - many years ago my daughter was reffing a U8 game. Free kicks in the league were all indirect. One of the players shot a free kick directly into the goal. She knew the goal didn't stand. But she didn't remember the remedy - so she thought out a good possibility. Make them retake the IFK. Not correct in Law - it should have been a goal kick - but a plausible decision. Sometimes that's the best we can do.