Question Number: 23965

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/19/2010

RE: select Under 12

Mike Slattery of Columbus, Ohio USA asks...

Our side is up 3-2, when in the last moments of the game (<20 seconds, as it turns out) a scrum occurs in our PA. Lots of action, ball is cleared off the line twice, very exciting all around. The ref blows final whistle. But just 4-5 seconds before the whistle, the AR on our side snaps his flag up for deliberate handling in the PA. We saw the same incident, and although I considered it incidental, he did not. He made his call in all honesty, can't blame him for that, I just didn't see hand-to-ball, and arm was in natural position, although the player was on the line. But my question is about the 'finality' of the final whistle. It had been blown, and after the 4-5 seconds it took the AR to get the the CR, they discussed, and the CR ended up giving the PK for deliberate handling. So in effect, the ref had to restart the game.

So I was wondering if this is actually part of his discretion... to add time to a game which is final? Seems to me lots of games would be recalled in this manner if allowed. On the other hand, the AR did make his foul signal before the final whistle, although he was too far away from CR to make this known before final was blown. If this is legal, should we rename it the 'quasi-final' whistle, until all refs have conferred?

The outcome, by the way, was a fair result (tie), and no hard feelings anywhere, except my 11 yr old, who felt pretty bad since it was his hand!

Thanks as always for a super website!

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

If the referee accepts the information from the assistant that a penalty kick foul occurred before the final whistle, the match must be extended to complete the penalty kick.

With any other restart (or free kick other than a PK) , the referee has discretion to decide whether to add additional time to the match.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the referee accepts the assistant referee's decision that a foul has occurred, it occurred before the end of the game. Time is extended for the taking of a penalty kick. But for any other restart, the referee will decide whether the game is over or not; he could give a team a couple of seconds to take the restart based on the confusion caused by the call.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
If the offence happened before the final whistle then the correct decision in this case is a penalty kick. Time is extended to allow the penalty kick to be taken.
In this case the AR informed the referee of the offence which happened during play and that signal has to be dealt with by the CR

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Glad you like the site!!
What the referee did was not only legal, it's within the Spirit of the game. An infraction occurred before the game was over. One of the officiating team saw it. The referee believed him and acted accordingly

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 24008