Question Number: 23859

Law 5 - The Referee 8/31/2010

RE: Competitive Under 14

David Willett of San Clemente, CA USA asks...

Use of the Whistle for substitutions.
Does the referee really need a whistle to restart play after each sub (of where there are many) in a youth game?
In youth games a coach may substitute very often. By following the ATR requirements this would mean lots of whistling and in conflict with the concept of the directives at the bottom. I can certainly see in unmodified FIFA sub (3 per team) the whistle is fine. My logic is we modified the substitution rules as allowed by FIFA for age " we should modify the whistle for substitutions too.

Reference:
The ATR 3.4 last line says:
'The referee must whistle to restart play after a substitution.'

Then
Page 9: http://www.ussoccer.com/Referees/'/m...3B5D3173B.ashx
'Use of whistle
...
? restart play after it has been stopped due to
...
" substitution
...
A whistle which is used too frequently unnecessarily will have less impact when it is needed. When a discretionary whistle is needed to start play, the referee should clearly announce to the players that the restart may not occur until after that signal.'

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Whistle every time. FIFA mandates the whistle, and modifications to Law 5 are not permitted.

But, I've found that the whistle can be an effective tool at substitutions. When the team on defense is substituting, the referee's 'wait for my whistle' helps the referee confirm that the defense will be given an opportunity to get in position before play restarts. That is appreciated by players. It adds to match control.

In other substitutions, the whistle can be a short pip. Unnecessary? Perhaps. But, IMO it does not distract from the match, nor does it reduce the referees control. It will become a habit.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I too am learning to adjust to this newer requirement. (In the past, it was a good idea in some situations but not mandated for all substitutions.) Since many refs either have not realized the change or may be deliberately ignoring it, I probably use the whistle more than most. This can be less effective as the players pay less attention to a whistle that is commonplace. But if it can prevent one bad restart when someone is not prepared and should not have been expected the game was starting, it's worth it.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

If nothing else, in unlimited substitution games, when the referee HAS to blow the whistle, perhaps the referee team will have that extra couple of seconds to COUNT the players and make sure we have the correct number on the field!!

While one can blow the whistle unnecessarily causing confusion and consternation with the teams, blowing it when FIFA says we must is what we must do. This is not a situation where I think too many whistles are being blown, anyway.