Question Number: 16784

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/19/2007

RE: High School

Franco of Bloomington, USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 16729

Reading the question, and if I understood it correctly, I would have thought that advantage was played out after the shot [16729]. So I would have stopped it when the keeper made the save. I assume that the keeper had it in possesion and it was not a deflected shot. Would that not have been a good time to blow the whistle and issue the card when advantage played out and the keeper had the ball?
Franco

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Help me with your reasoning. The player used the advantage and made a shot at goal. Unfortunately he shot it right to the keeper. Now you say the advantage was not realized, and you blow the whistle. How are you going to restart play?

If you do stop play at this point, this certainly would be the time to send off the miscreant and show the red card. In fact, this would be the only time you could send the player off, as it must be done before a restart takes place.

But the question remains - what will that restart be?

Update: I have an answer to my own question. A variation of this topic is currently being discussed on the SocRef-L listserver. Someone pointed out that it was in Jim Allen's "Ask A Referee" site, which gives official USSF answers:

[quote]
Answer (August 22, 2006):
Many referees seem to believe that, when advantage is applied to misconduct, they must wait for a "natural stoppage." However, we need to remember that Law 9 defines how play stops: the ball leaves the field or the referee stops. Period. Neither is more "natural" than the other. The referee could stop play for an injury, another foul, because it is Tuesday, or because the advantage already applied no longer exists.

Yes, the far easier solution would have been to wait until the ball went out of play, but, as you point out, you had good reason to stop it when you did. Therefore, you must follow the instructions under Law 12, Indirect Free Kicks:
"- commits any other offense, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player
"The indirect free kick is taken from where the offense occurred.* (see page 3)"
[end quote]

You will note that the answer says there should be a good reason to create the stoppage.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Franco, nice to see you back. While the referee may stop play at a time of his choosing he usually needs to have very good reason to stop things as you suggest. In stopping play here he faces a dropped ball in an area very close to the goal and if the two teams want to they can contest the dropped ball. Very dangerous and not a good idea in any case. The referee may not force a team to give up participation though his force of personality may suggest they volunteer to do so on their own.

Look at the circumstances, foul play requiring a sending-off, advantage given and a missed chance at a goal, NOW you blow the whistle and drop the ball after you send-off a player?? You just buried yourself way deep. The same applies for stopping things and getting the discipline sorted out and restarting indirect where the disciplined player was when he did it. At that point howcum you didn't return to the original offence or deal with it in the first place?

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

In a high school game, if you stop the game to deal with the player who deserves the red card, and at the whistle the goalkeeper has the ball in his hands, you still restart play with an indirect FK for the misconduct at the spot where the misconduct occurred. In a USSF game, the best thing to do may be to wait half a second until the GK has put the ball back into play and then blow the whistle so the ball is further upfield, but the restart is the same - IDFK for the misconduct where it occurred. In both situations, though, the better referee will be very vocal, with both the "PLAY ON -ADVANTAGE!" and the "I'LL BE BACK FOR HIM (or call out the number of the player)!" so everyone - the defender, the attacker, the coaches, the fans, the other players all know what's going down. And, the referee had better be right there on top of play, with an eye on the bad guy and the other eye on the potential goal. And, last caveat - if the offense for which you intend to send-off the player is violent enough to have hurt someone (read actual hurtful contact), you must stop play right then. You cannot afford to lose the whole game because you wanted to wait 10 seconds to see what happens next, advantage or not.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 16825