Question Number: 21645

League Specific 7/13/2009

RE: college/adult/high school ref Adult

Danelle Muresan of Dubuque, IA USA asks...

I was playing in the Coed Adult division of the Iowa Games last winter (indoor soccer). The keeper was out of his penalty area (was also the last defender). I shot the ball from my end of the field, it was going straight to the goal, and would have gone in. The keeper jumped in the air and hit the ball with one hand, deflecting it and preventing the goal. The referee blew the whistle to call the foul, but did not send off the keeper. I was absolutely furious! I was told the keeper didn't realize he was outside of his penalty area when he denied the goal with his hand and that is why the referee did not send him off. There is no place in the Laws of the Game where it specifies that a referee may avoid dealing with misconduct if the referee thinks the player did not realize he was engaging in misconduct. Please advise me if there is any situation where the referee may choose to ignore the Laws of the Game pertaining to misconduct. Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Welcome to indoor soccer. The LOTG don't apply. Otherwise, you wouldn't start with less than seven, would have offside, wouldn't be able to kick off with the ball going forward, wouldn't have substitutions on the fly, wouldn't have walls, no sliding rules, etc. Indoor can have blue cards with two 2 minutes 'penalties.'

Most facilities adopt their own rules for indoor, many using the MISL rules with some variances. At the location where I referee, the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity is treated as a 'blue card' offense. For keepers, there is a 'momentum rule' that provides for only a foul if the referee believes the keeper's momentum caused the keeper to leave the penalty area (for sliding and handling).

FIFA has published rules for FUTSAL, which is like indoors without walls and the Beach Soccer, which is like futsal without shoes.