Question Number: 22381

Law 5 - The Referee 10/28/2009

RE: Middle School Soccer Other

Brian Hilliker of Byron Center, MI USA asks...

An attacking player is tripped 20 yards from goal. A foul is called. The player is injured so the coach is called onto the field. The coach is in the process of helping his player off the field. Referee blows whistle to restart game DFK (doesn't notice that coach and injured player have not left the field). A goal is scored directly from the DFK. Defending plays yell that the injured player and coach are still on the field and ask to have the DFK retaken. Attacking team wants the goal to count. The officials meet and talk it over and have the DFK retaken. What would have been the correct decision?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Retake the kick.

The referee should not restart play while the injured player and a coach are still on the field and the defenders reasonably could believe that they did not have to be ready to play until they were off the field. Because the kickoff had not yet taken, the referees have the right to change the decision to award the goal.

The referee had another option under the laws. Depending on whether the attacking team substituted for the injured player, the team has one or two extra persons on the field (11 players, 1 substituted player, and 1 coach on the field) when a goal is scored. The goal is not allowed when the extra person on the field is a substituted player or a team official. Play restarts with an indirect free kick for the defense (if the substitute was the extra person) or a dropped ball (if only the coach was the extra person) on the 6 yard line perpendicular to where the ball entered the goal.

Given the alternative, I suspect the attacking team would see the wisdom of a retake.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Hilliker.
I would need a bit more detail but in general if the coach and player leaving the field have not interfered with the restart of play in any way, are yards from the side line, (maybe stopped walking because of the injury), the referee has whistled for the restart as both teams are ready then the goal should stand IMO. The injured player can return after the KO. That's a spirit of the law decision and that would be my decision on what I would call a possible trifling infraction/mistake by the referee which had no bearing on the game.
Poor sportsmanship by the opponents to look for it to be disallowed. Also the player was probably injured by the challenge in the 1st place.
I can see why the referee went with the freekick retake as if the referee wants to be 100% correct in law where there is an extra person on the FOP then unfortunately the decision has to be to disallow the goal because of the presence of the coach and player on the FOP and restart with an IDFK in the goal area after cautioning the player and warning the coach. The referee has simply rolled the clock back and went with the original restart which is a common sense compromise decision. Normally retakes would be instanteous decisions by the ref with " We'll have that again" "Player not ready here. We'll have that again"
Having said that I would not want teams in every match rushing up to the referee looking for a goal to be disallowed just because a coach has take one step onto the FOP inadvertently. That's not what the law is there for.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

This is a case of a team desperately looking for some excuse to not concede a goal. The referee has done the wrong thing by allowing play to restart too soon - however it's unfair to punish the attack for the referee's mistake, and this scenario is different to a sub/coach simply coming onto the field without permission.

Assuming it hasn't affected play, then I'd allow the goal.

Keep in mind that one way it can affect play is if the referee suddenly allowed play to resume while the defence was unprepared and they were waiting for the coach and player to leave.

Answer provided by Referee Nathan Lacy

Wow. This is one of those moments where you, as the ref, have dug your own hole and now you're just going to decide which team is going to throw the dirt on top of you!! Bummer. For my two-cents worth, it all depends. The 'book' answer is to retake the DFK because play was not properly restarted due to the presence of the coach who had not yet left the FOP. Depending on the nature of the match and other influencing factors that may be the best choice. If you stick with the LOTG you can't be hammered for misapplying them. HOWEVER, as given above, the spirit of the game is all about goals and scoring so if the defending team is merely trying to dissuade you from awarding the goal by asking you to bail out their sorry backsides after a bit of poor defending (they were prepared, waiting for the whistle, actively tried to stop the ball, etc.) - then the goal counts. Of course the best solution is to ALWAYS follow proper procedure and make sure that bench personnel have left the FOP prior to the restart. By following proper mechanics and ensuring compliance with the LOTG at times such as this we keep ourselves out of a world of trouble. All the best,