Question Number: 22186

Mechanics 10/8/2009

RE: Grade 8 USSF Referee Under 19

tracey of wilton, ct us asks...

I am one of 2 two adult females who referee in my town; the other is one of my very best friends. Following each match we do there is some disagreement regarding a call. The latest one was regarding 'advantage'. I was the AR, my friend was the center. Team A was in their defending half of the field (where I was) and had possession of the ball after tackling it from an attacker on team B. I was right on the ball when a player from team B came sliding in (cleats up) to the player on team A who had possession and was running up the line. My flag went up immediately; the player that slid in made no contact with the opponent only because the opponent jumped over his feet and continued on. My center blew her whistle immediately, but was then berated by the coach from team A because he wanted 'advantage'. Unfortunately the whistle was already blown so play stopped and a DFK was taken from the place of the foul. The argument is; should I have played advantage (as the AR) or should my center have acknowledged my flag and waved it down until advantage played out? I believe I followed the mechanics correctly by indicating a foul and if the center chooses to play advantage that would have been fine. I reviewed the Laws and it clearly stated that only the Referee (i.e. center) has the ability to call advantage. The AR does not have that listed as one of the responsibilities. Should I have kept my flag down is essentially my question. This foul was not seen by the Center because she had to pinch over to the other side (we had no AR on that touchline)

Thank you so much for any guidance you can give me on this.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The key here is the prematch discussion. The advice from me to my ARs would be to act like a referee when I am out of position as in this situation. As the AR cannot give advantage then delay the flag to see what develops. If a good advantage develops then let play continue. If not raise the flag for the DFK and I will blow.
Also a comment from the Centre along the lines ' Sorry I did not see the advantage' to the coach and players could have taken some of the heat out of the situation plus this reads to me like a cautionable tackle so stopping to caution is always justified unless its a 'stonewall' advantage which it rarely is.
Final point is that in this part of the world if only one ARs is available then he/she would act as a club lineman and not as an assistant referee. Same would apply in the case on an injury to any of the team of three.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You as an AR cannot give advantage but you CAN adhere to what the referee tells you in pregame. If the referee instructs you to leave the flag down if you think the referee WOULD have given advantage, then do so.

But I'm on your side on this one. There was no imminent scoring opportunity and a studs up tackle is dangerous and should be dealt with. Even though the opponent jumped over the studs up tackler you could make the case that the tackle seriously endangered the safety of the player and even considered a red card. To me, a studs up tackle even with no contact is always at least reckless and a caution should be coming along with the foul

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

A great question, and worthy of a post match discussion.

The assistant referee may NOT allow an advantage, as that is a power reserved only to the referee. Moreover, it digs a huge hole to try to "revoke the advantage" with a flag that goes up two to three seconds after the foul.

But, this does not mean that the assistant referee must raise the flag and shift the burden to the referee to allow the advantage. The answer lies in when an assistant referee should raise the flag: Assistant referees should not signal for fouls or misconduct that clearly occurs in sight of the referee OR "for which the referee would likely have applied advantage." (ATR 6.3) If the assistant referee believes that the referee would have applied the advantage if the referee had seen the foul, then the flag should stay down.

One benefit from the referee's loud and public signal of advantage is that the fouled player hears or sees it, and is less likely to retaliate than one who believes that the opponent has gotten away with a grave injustice. It can present a problem when the fouled player hears and sees nothing. I find it helpful as an AR to speak to the victim of the foul player - - or "Your team is still attacking"or "I saw it" depending on the temperature of the match/players or whether the fouled player looks first for the ball or for the perpetrator.

Finally, there are times when the management of the game requires play to be stopped even when there is an advantage. The assistant referee always needs to judge: do I fail the referee if I do not raise the flag; do I fail the game?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

You already mentioned the referee was NOT in position to see the foul well so how could she know to wave down your flag? Given you were short an AR, I must emphasise EYE Contact as the constant communicator between you and the referee. Issues here are the LOCATION of the referee, you make no mention of whether you indicated cautioning or sending off the player, what was discussed pregame then you can better analyze the post game.

I have seen the occasional AR call out advantage, when the referee is caught way out of position, even endorsed by an English premier professional league referee however, in the USSF it is a mechanic they do not approve of! You could yell,' Keep going # team A! or Watch it # team B that was ugly! or You are lucky that missed # team B!

Always remember that the referee if she sees it as a foul and wants to call it, you help with the selling of the decision! Here because of the circumstances, your assist here is making the decision you feel the referee would make that includes keeping the flag down to facilitate an advantage if it was practical to do so!

In my opinion you raised the flag too quickly! Keep the flag down if you can see that the player was unaffected and you are convinced your referee would apply the advantage IF she was in a position to see it! Advantage is in fact your responsibility to apply it in the same thinking manner as your referee is doing in the match without the actual signals accompanying it! Just be sure and communicate if misconduct was present to the referee and REASSURE the player fouled you did see it and are taking steps

If there was more to the foul than a careless attempt to trip or kick in cautionable or excessive elements then you could consider communicating that to the referee. As in tap top shirt pocket for yellow, back short pocket for red.

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Cheers