Question Number: 19994

Law 18 - Common Sense 9/19/2008

RE: Rec High School

Warren Duzak of Nashville, Tennessee USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 19969

Wait a minute. If your answers are correct then there are times during a game when player safety is not paramount. A player without a shinguard or shoe and attacking the goal with a half-way aggressive keeper is in real danger of injury.I've seen legs broken in those situations with both players wearing shinguards.
Remember I'm talking high school and youth soccer, not the Pros.
It's nonsense to cite the many ways players can be injured as a defense. The only mantatory safety equipment is the shinguard so there is no reason to add to the list of possible ways to get injured for the sake of a thrilling goal.

If you guys are right then USSF needs to reword the law to state that 'player safety is of paramount concern unless there is a goal-scoring opportunity and, in the opinion of the referee, protecting a player from possible injury would take away a goal-scoring opportunity'
Fraternally,
Warren

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Wait a moment Warren,
If the tackle is imminent and safety is indeed your concern you could whistle! We are talking reasonable circumstances and immediate opportunity not 50 /50 balls. One can still get a shot off minus a blown shoe without being tackled. If you are shoeless or shinguardless and are trying to deke three defenders the whistle will likely sound as you are endangering yourself but THINK a bit of the circumstances and the practical versus the theoretical.
In some cases much like a player who gets outside into touch and leaves the field without permission he is not supposed too but we realize it happens and make an exception but it is to be corrected post haste.

That is the same here we expect shin guards and shoes to be intact but if they come off and the immediate play is not dangerous, dish the ball off in a pass or a shot before you can be challenged we do not have to prevent that. A player is on a break away why stop play unless he carries the ball into a potentially dangerous situation? That is YOUR domain as referee to decide based on the circumstances.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

In the first place, USSF doesn't rewrite or reword the Laws of the Game. Those come to us from FIFA, and we follow them faithfully. Some interpretations are available which are required to be followed by USSF referees - see the Advice to Referees, the Position Papers and Memoranda on www.ussoccer.com.

Secondly FIFA in the former Q & A, an interpretive document, noted that a player who inadvertently loses a shoe and who immediately scores a goal is not intentionally playing barefoot, and therefore the referee does not need to interfere. This interpretation still stands as good law and practice.

So there is precedent for what we stated, and it is an eminently common sense interpretation. What this does mean is the referee is NOT REQUIRED to stop play simply because a player is no longer (momentarily) wearing all of the required equipment. He can, but may also consider the circumstances.

Common sense will also dictate whether or not a referee will allow play to continue in a situation where a player has lost a piece of required equipment. In your examples above, common sense would dictate the need to stop play and have the player retrieve and correct his equipment.

Some referees have more common sense than others, but I see no way to mandate a level of common sense other than natural selection?

And lastly, get off your high horse. We referees, all of us, regard player safety to be very important and take all necessary steps to ensure the game is as safe as reasonably possible in a full contact sport. We cannot guarantee safety or risk free play, nor should we go to extraordinary measures to do so. That would destroy the game. We are protected from liablity if we have followed the Laws. A referee simply must learn to adjust the what is safe and not safe based on the level of play and the age of the players, but that comes with experience, and that cannot be mandated by USSF or FIFA either.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Warren, if you are familiar with this site you have heard each of us repeat ad nauseum that player safety is our main job. That said, we cannot and should not try to make this game risk free. If a shinguard flies off and the referee feels there is inherent danger to the player, he/she should stop play immediately regardless of the age of the player. What was put forth in the previous answers was the FACT that the referee is not required to stop play if a piece of required equipment comes off. You are way out of line accusing anyone on this panel of not being concerned about player safety

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

See Question: 20025