Question Number: 17927

Mechanics 11/15/2007

RE: Adult

Jed of Mid North Coast, New South Wales Australia asks...

Hey guys, played a tough game last night, just for leisure though. Unfortunately, the one goal scored against us posed an interesting question for matches in which I will be refereeing in the future. As our goalkeeper (my father) is old and slow (no disrepect intended of course!!), the other team accused us of timewasting when he went to retrieve the ball for a goal kick, after they booted it thirty metres or so over the goal line. In an act of fair play, one of the other team's strikers ran and retrieved the ball for us a few times. However, he soon realised that all of our goal kicks were quick and short, so he remained behind the goal line off the field, waiting until the goal kick was taken. As soon as the ball was kicked into play (ie, beyond the penalty area) he sprinted from off the field and cut out the pass, before driving it into the back of the net.

Having refereed many senior games, this really got me thinking. I searched though LOTG 2007/2008, and found the following on page 64 in Additional Instructions (Law 3):

'Player outside the field of play
If, after leaving the field of play to correct unauthorised equipment or
kit, to be treated for an injury or bleeding, because he has blood on
his kit or for any other reason with the referee's permission, a player
re-enters the field of play without the referee's permission, the referee
shall:

stop play (although not immediately if the player does not interfere
with play or if the advantage can be applied)

caution the player for entering the field of play without permission

order the player to leave the field of play if necessary (infringement
of Law 4)

Does this group of instructions apply to the scenario described above? I figure retrieving the ball would come under 'any other reason, and if a player is waiting until play has restarted to enter the field, he's certainly trying to gain some unsporting advantage from it, especially so close to the opponents' goal.

Here's another one I've seen happen a fair bit, regarding players entering the field. Player A and Player B are on the same team which is awarded a corner. Player A goes to get ball from behind goal line, and quickly throws it to Player B, who takes a quick corner. Player A runs from off the field and receives the corner. Does this scenario warrant any action by the referee? I've never seen either of these happen at an elite level, mostly because players don't need to leave the field to get the ball; it is retrieved for them.

One final question. If a goal is scored from one of the above situations (if deemed to come under that excerpt above), is it protestable? My understanding is that 'permission from the referee' is a kind of ITOOTR sort of thing, rather than a misapplication of the LOTG, and ITOOTR generally are not protestable situations no matter how wrong they might be.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

NOT protestable but the act of staying off the field is certainly unethical if the opinion of the referee is of that mind set! Also the opposing player can not cut through the penalty area at all until AFTER the ball has LEFT the penalty area entirely. Preventative refereeing tell the league or coaches to hire a couple of kids to shag the ball and retrieve it if only one ball is in play during a match . Multiple balls is the best answer provided they can be retrieved and kept track of!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The referee can easily put a stop to this. He could have told your goalkeeper to hold the kick until the player who was off the field got back into a proper position. When the player saw that he himself was the one who was consuming time, he'd hustle back into position.

You don't say, but was there ever any contention about the other team retrieving the ball? If so the ref should stop the team from doing so. In fact, that has been added into the Additional Instructions of the Laws of the Game as a cautionable offense.

The ref should make it clear that he will be adding on enough time to compensate for your older, slower (no disrespect) goalkeeper. By the way, if your father shows signs of at least trying to jog after the ball, not obviously moving slowly, then the other team should have no quarrel with it. They were the ones that kicked it into the next county, after all.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Leaving the field to collect a ball is a natural part of the match. Doing so to speed things is also perfectly natural. Doing it for your opponents might sometimes cause unnecessary problems. The quick corner fetch and retrieve thing I really have no problems with, neither will the defenders. The other thing, waiting off the park after collecting the ball then intercepting a pass, or trying to, leaves me a bit flat. As a referee I would either hold things until he returned to the field OR force him to remain behind the goal line until he was no longer a factor.

I believe I would be supported in Law as soon as he didn't promptly return to the field. At that point his remaining off the field changes from a natural departure to something tactical in nature. From there forward he needs my permission to return.

As an old, slow, ugly, crusty goalkeeper I would thank him for chasing after the ball and giving it to me. Then allow adequate time for me to recover from the exertions of thanking him and placing the ball AND give him time to arrive in front of me instead of staying behind me. If the match referee had a problem with me waiting [wasting time] I would appologise to him as well and say I was just waiting for the forward to return...

Regards,