Question Number: 20361

Law 5 - The Referee 10/25/2008

RE: High School

Christi Weston of Morgantown, WV USA asks...

The ball deflected off the center ref during play and the other team scored. He made no attempt to move for the goalie and blocked her so she could not see the ball in play.

First should he not have stopped play when the ball hit him? He definitely should have gotten the assist This was a sectional play off game and the score was 1-0. Resulting in my daughter's high school team losing.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

It is a sad incident in that by law the goal is legal as the referee is for legal purposes part of the field of play. Although I grant you his head is as wooden as the goal posts for being in a position to where he is so involved directly in front of goal. Positioning, mechanics, angles of view, anticipation all play a part in why a referee is where he needs to be to see the play. Here the referee adopted a misreading of the situation and inadvertently found himself in a spot where he would rather not be. That said best way to win is to score goals it appears you needed to do that at least twice never mind once. Referees need to stay out of the way or at least not position themselves to where they become so involved. Accidents and quick changes of direction deflections can create a turn over unexpectedly off a chance glance of a ball off a referee, it is part of the game and these things happen, good luck to one team bad luck for the other.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

A referee who gets hit by the ball in front of the goal needs to contemplate his positioning. There's seldom a reason for the ref to be out in front of the keeper blocking her vision. But sometimes things happen, and we have to live with them.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

No offense but you are at the very least biased in favor of your daughter's team which is natural. You say the referee blocked the keeper's line of sight but the referee might have a different take on things. Regardless, the referee is part of the field so if the ball hits him play continues. We all try to position ourselves so this won't happen but sometimes it does and that's just part of the game. Your team lost 1-0. I doubt seriously if this incident was the only cause of the loss. How many shots on goal by your team were missed? How many times did a player on your team cause a scoring opportunity to dissolve by being offside? How many times did a foul by one of your team result in lost opportunities? A person far wiser than I once said referees don't decide the outcomes of games, players do. It's far too easy to blame a loss on something the referee did that took 20 seconds of playing time. That ignores the rest of the 80 minutes (I believe High Schools play 40 minute halves).