Question Number: 21917

Law 5 - The Referee 9/8/2009

RE: High School

john macinnes of murfreesboro, tn usa asks...

i was recently watching a varsity high school game. during the game one of the ar's called a foul, the center ref acknowledged the call and spotted the ball. the red team took the kick at the ref's whistle, the ball went over the goal line for a goal kick. the blue team took the goal kick. while the ball was in play the ar went onto the field of play to get the ref's attention, he stopped play. they talked for awhile, then the ref blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. the explanation was that the foul happened in the penalty area and a penalty kick should have been awarded to the red team. my question is was this the correct procedure.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

High school rules follow the general rule that a referee may correct a decision, provided that the match has not been restarted. Here, the red team took the free kick (after the referee's whistle) and the blue team took a goal kick. The referee should have let play continue, and reported their mistake in the match report.

This appears to be a mistake in communication among the referee team. The pregame should cover how the assistant referee indicates a penalty kick. Our high school association follows the USSF procedure (flag, [whistle], eye contact, wave flag, hold flag parallel to ground at waist, walk to corner flag.) Moreover, when it became clear that the referee misunderstood the nature of the foul indicated by the assistant referee, the time to get the referee's attention was before the whistle for the free kick. The pregame should also have included a reminder when the assistant should yell, enter the field, or do whatever is necessary to prevent a match changing error on a restart.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Rule 5 Article 2 states 'The officials can only correct a decision so long as the game has not been restarted'. This is a little different than FIFA which will allow a card to be shown for an action that took place and play already restarted (see Zindane) if the infraction was seen by an AR or fourth official.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

What occured is simply not possible in law. The referee has created a protestable situation and this match could be ordered replayed or the result scrapped! Bad mechanics and poor communication send out the recert team these boys need help!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Once the referee has allowed the restart to occur, he cannot change his decision.

If the kick had not been taken and the decision changed to a penalty on the word of the assistant, this would have been fine.

If the referee had told the kicker to wait for the whistle but the kicker didn't wait but took the kick, then the referee was informed that the foul occurred in the penalty area it would also be permissible for his to change it to a penalty kick (as he had not given permission for the restart to occur).

What DID happen is not permissible under the laws of the game. As Ref Dawson said, by making an error in law the referee has created a situation where the match can be protested - particularly if a goal is scored from the penalty kick, and particularly if the result of the match is only decided by the difference of a single goal between the team (such as a draw or a loss by one goal).