Question Number: 22077

Law 5 - The Referee 9/25/2009

RE: Select Under 15

Dan Shafer of Belchertown, MA USA asks...

Early in the second half blue has a goal kick. The kick is taken and the ball travels out beyond the goal box heading towards midfield. A yellow team midfielder skillfully traps the ball and sends an exceptional through ball back to her striker who is in my field of vision and who appears to be off sides. In an instant she strikes the ball at which point I blow my whistle only to realize that as the ball went skillfully into the net there were not 1 but 2 full backs who had stayed anchored to the post when the goal kick was originally taken. I had assumed they had left their positions but not having done so meant that the striker was on sides. While I clearly know my mistake and had a much too quick whistle I didn't know what to do? In other sports when a whistle is blown the play is over however my other thought is that even though I blew the whistle the ball was virtually in the back of the net and maybe I should have allowed the goal after talking to both coaches. What I did decide was to disallow the goal; spoke to offended coach and acknowledged my error and gave a direct kick to the blue team. What is the best wasy of handling this situation?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Dan - I remember making a very similar mistake. Play is proceeding with nothing noteworthy happening. an attacker, who appears to be about 5 yards offside receives a pass from a teammate (beautiful through ball) and runs towards goal. I stop play, then when a parent compains I look up to see a defender having a chat with the goalkeeper, 30 yards up the field....

What did I do?

Apologised to the players, and restarted play with a drop ball from where the ball was when I stopped play.

Law 5 allows the referee to change his decision provided play has not restarted, and drop balls are awarded when play is stopped for any reason not mentioned elsewhere in the laws. 'Referee error' is certainly in this 'for any other reason' category.

Law 12 outlines all the direct and indirect free kick offences; while I understand your rationale behind the free kick, you had no provision to do so.

When restarting with the drop ball, you can suggest to the defence that considering their opponent was in clear possession that the sporting thing to do would be to stand back and let him have the drop ball all to himself, but you have no authority to force this - and at this age I wouldn't expect the players to comply. However, if the blue player is near the spot of the drop ball and the defence isn't you can just drop it in front of him anyway, though I probably wouldn't in this situation as the players are already feeling pretty confused and probably a little upset - this would just frustrate them further.

However, if the ball was crossing the line as you blew the whistle then you could award the goal - but if you definitely blew it before it was in the goal then you can no longer to this as the defence could claim they stopped upon hearing your whistle.

Bad luck, but don't beat yourself up over this one!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dan
Thanks for your question. Referee Wright has provided the correct answer.
Just something to consider. You say ' even though I blew the whistle the ball was virtually in the back of the net'. The question then is did the whistle have an effect on the outcome. Did the defenders stop playing. Did the whistle have a material effect on subsequent play. Only you can make that call. The law is black and white but the implementation of it is never as clear.
If it had zero effect I would be tempted to allow the 'certain' goal and the opponents might not complain either so the goal is awarded. A little delay in your decision there could have given you a clue as to their reaction and in the spirit of fair play may have said nothing. In the vast majority of cases it clearly will have an effect then the restart is always a dropped ball from where play was stopped.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

My very good friend taught me a long time ago to stop digging when I realized I was in a hole. In your case, the hole is whether you blew the whistle before or as the ball entered the goal.

If you're not sure if the whistle was blown before the ball entered the goal, and you know the kicker was not offside, the fair thing to do is to award the goal, because you have no good reason not to. As my colleagues note, the behavior of the players will tell you a great deal. Observe, then act accordingly.

If you know the whistle blew before the ball got to the goal, then you must do the correct thing, which is to apologize to the wronged player and have a dropped ball where the ball was when you blew the whistle in error.

In soccer, play stops when the referee decides it must. If it takes him a second to get the whistle to his mouth and blow, a lot can happen in that second or two, but play effectively stopped when he made the decision, not the announcement. However, the time delay can also convince the referee NOT to blow the whistle after all - is better to be slow on the whistle and correct than too fast and wrong (not too slow though!!).

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Best way to handle the situation is realize you just made a huge mistake. If you blew the whistle before the goal was scored (actually if you had decided to blow the whistle before the goal was scored play stopped then) you simply cannot award a goal. Likewise, since you also realized there was no offside, you can't call that either. You are stuck with doing the ONLY thing allowed by Law, you must restart with a dropped ball where the ball was when you wrongly blew your whistle. In this case it would probably be within the goal area so the drop should be at the six yard line. An apology and explanation to the wronged team would also be a good idea. Most players/coaches are very forgiving if we admit our mistakes and explain what has to be done by law.