Question Number: 19058

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/11/2008

RE: High School

Ed Murphy of Lake Wales, FL US asks...

In a tournament semi-final today, the opposing team's left wing continually made arcing runs off the ball that took him off the field, ~2 yds out of touch, then back onto the field where he would receive a pass and continue towards our goal. I questioned the referee at half-time as to whether he was gaining an unfair advantage by being allowed to play on a field that was 4-5 yards wider than the field everyone else was using. The fact that he couldn't be fouled "out there" and the safety of him, coaches, players, spectators, etc. was also an issue. The referee's cited a rule interpretation that indicated he could go out of bounds but it just seems like a bad idea for so many reasons when it is not isolated and casual, as my reading of the interpretation suggests.

What do you folks think about this continuous leaving of the field without permission. To me it provides a tremendous tactical advantage but I believe it's unlawful.

Ed

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I don't know about High School but in the real world of soccer a player is allowed to leave the field if in the normal course of play. It would be up to the referee to decide what constituted normal. I would find this to be an unusual attempt to gain a tactical advantage but if the referee thought it was he could simply put an end to it. While the player may not be "fouled" while out of play, misconduct could easily occur.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Ed, I wonder if your approximate 2 yards was really that much. Anyway, let's assume that in fact this left winger did that. In my opinion it is an excessive amount to do on a regular basis. The Laws do not address this issue with a specific distance that is allowed but it is generally excepted that a player can leave the field of play in these instances and for that he does not need permission to do so. If I reffed the game I would talk to him and tell him that what he is doing is not in the spirit of the game. If he continues to do so, I would caution him. This decision would be made by the referee of the day depending what that referee thinks is NOT in the spirit of the game.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

As I was assessing at a tournament yesterday, a referee asked me a similar question. The difference was that he told me he had a player make continuous runs off the field, inside of the goal, on corner kicks. He asked me if this was within the laws or not. My response was similar to Mr. Nagy's reply. I agree wih Mr. Nagy. If this was an ongoing thing..I would talk first and then consider a caution for persistent infringment. The laws do say that a player can run off the field during the normal course of play. To me this means that a player is going around a crowd of players or just loses vision of where he is. If a player continues to do this as a method of trickory or decpetion, then no doubt in my mind he would receive a caution for leaving field w/o permission (mandatory caution). It

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