Question Number: 23839

Law 5 - The Referee 8/27/2010

RE: Under 16

Dave of Des Moines, IA US asks...

Can you give a brief explanation of the Advice to the Referees?

I'm just a little confused as to why there are both. Is it just a detailed version of the laws?

Do all countries have there own set of details of the LOTG?

My question arises from noticing that only the ATR restricts the application of advantage to violations of Law 12.
Which leads to question 2:
Why is this restriction in ATR but not in LOTG?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The preamble of Advice to Referees tells about its purpose and use, and why it was developed. These few sentences are extracted from those two pages: 'This book of Advice to Referees is specifically intended to give USSF referees, assistant referees and fourth officials a reliable compilation of those international and national guidelines remaining in force, as modified or updated. It is not a replacement for the Laws of the Game, nor is it a 'how to' book on refereeing: It is an official statement of Federation interpretations of the Laws.'

USSF's position on advantage is that when the word is used other than in Law 12, it does not mean the specific advantage clause given to the referee in Law 5. Rather, it is a general usage of the word, meaning "benefit" or "profit".

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Historically advantage was limited to penal offences under Law 12. Technical offences were excluded. However the Laws of the Game now does not make that distinction and for referees outside of the US advantage can be called on any infringement. Having said that those are indeed rare and it rarely applies.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The Advice To Referees On The Laws Of The Game is a document put out yearly by the USSF to aid USSF referees as to interpretations and to give guidance. What is in Advice is official policy of USSF and all USSF referees are bound by it and should follow guidance and directives in it. It only is published once a year. Memoranda and answers on the official USSF Q&A site Ask A Soccer Referee run primarily by Jim Allen, may be more timely if they come out between issues of Advice and also carry the full weight and authority of the Federation.

Where Advice differs fromLOTG, USSF sanctioned referees are to abide by what is in Advice or whatever is the most recent instruction from the USSF. It should be noted that the USSF believes it is also the policy of FIFA that advantage only applies to violations of Law 12.

We are very proud that current members of this panel, most notably our current Editor, Michelle Maloney, have been asked to contribute to the current and past editions of Advice.

We are even prouder still that the current issue has been dedicated to the memory of our past Editor, mentor, and friend; Major Chuck Fleischer, who passed away last year after his battle with cancer

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

After the 'great' rewrite of the LOTG in 1997, a lot of the information that was contained in the book was edited out because 'everybody knew it'. What the IFAB failed to note was the number of new referees who would now have no reference for the myriad of points of the Laws that were no longer written - and now they had no way to 'know it' without reference to outside sources - not always reliable sources.

The USSF's Advice to Referees helped fill that gap in common knowledge (and not so common knowledge) about how and why the LOTG are to be applied correctly, at least for referees in the USA. In the last couple of years, the IFAB has included Interpretations in the back of the LOTG, which in large part takes the place of what they removed before, with updates and changes as needed. The Advice is a complement to those directives, as it is to policy and positions taken by USSF on current needs for the referee to conduct games.

Hope that helps explain the need for the ATR. Nothing goes in it that hasn't been vetted at the highest levels of USSF and run by the IFAB folks.