Question Number: 24221

Law 5 - The Referee 10/22/2010

RE: Select High School

Chris McAlpine of Centerville, OH USA asks...

A question about applying advantage:

Defender for team B commits a clear foul. After waiting to see if there is advantage, how would you call it in the following scenarios:

1) Team B goalie is out of position, player for team A has a wide open net, shoots and misses.

2) Team B goalie is in position, player for team A has an open shot but misses the goal.

3) Player for team A has an open shot, mis-hits the ball and goalie makes an easy save.

4) Player for team A has an open shot, hits a great shot and the goalie make a tremendous save.

5) Player for team A has an open shot, instead takes the dreaded one extra touch, and is fairly tackled by a defender.


I guess the question in the scenarios is if Team A received enough of an advantage by getting a chance on goal to not call the original foul, or do you call the foul after the miss and give Team A a second bite at the cherry?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

There should be no difference between high school and TLOG on allowing and revoking advantage. The real question you ask is 'when is advantage realized?'

The USSF recognizes that advantage for a foul by the defense inside their penalty area is treated differently than advantage for a foul outside the area. Inside the penalty area, the referee makes no signal for advantage, and waits to see if a goal is scored immediately. If not, blow the whistle and award the penalty kick. The objective is to avoid seeing the ball hit the back of the net after blowing the whistle for the foul (and often showing a red card). Inside the Penalty area, the PK would be awarded for all five of your scenarios.

Outside the penalty area, the referee will wait, indicate advantage when it appears (considering Proximity to Goal; the skill of the attacking and number of defending Personnel; Potential for an attack; and, obviously, Possession of the Ball). The referee must then decide if the offense realized the advantage. IMO, the question to ask is whether the original foul had any impact on what happened next. Sometimes the foul still affects the pass or shot, and this is far more likely when the fouled player maintains possession of the ball than if the ball is passed to an unfouled teammate.

The referee could well decide the advantage was realized in scenarios 1 through 4. My sense is that the original foul had something to do with scenario 5.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Chris
NFHS rules state that if the referee applies advantage which was anticipated but does not develop at that time the referee shall penalize the original offence.
So the referee has a to make a judgment call based on the circumstances he/she find in the actual scenario. Sometimes it is advisable to just 'wait and see' what happens and to only make the call based on the what happens immediately. In many goal scoring situations it all happens pretty quickly and a goal can be scored so it is 'best' to allow the goal.
USSF has issued guidance on this to its referees and that has been outlined by Referee Wickham.
In Europe once the advantage has been realised then play continues and the team accepts the outcome. Having said that I have seen referees bring it back on the basis that the advantage was not fully realized due to the circumstances.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

1. Was the foul committed against team A player that took the shot? If so, you wait for the result of the shot. If missed you then have to decide if the miss was caused by the foul. If so, bring it back. Of course, you have only 2-3 seconds to decide.
2. See #1
3. You imply that the shot was there for the taking and player from team A was not affected by the foul. Advantage applied and realized. Continue play.
4. Advantage realized. Continue play.
5. Advantage given and foolishly not taken. Continue play.

That's for fouls OUTSIDE the penalty area. For DFK fouls committed by the defending team INSIDE their penalty area, at least in the US, only a goal is considered having advantage realized. Here is a quote from Jim Allen's Official USSF Q&A site:

USSF answer (September 17, 2010):
For something over a year now, the Federation has espoused precisely the line expressed in the Week in Review. This line distinguishes between the concept of advantage anywhere else in the field and how the concept differs in the penalty area. What it comes down to is this:

As regards procedures, the mechanics of advantage in the penalty area would be to keep your mouth shut and the whistle down, no matter what. No referee should ever be caught on tape giving the non-PA advantage signal for something that occurred inside the penalty area.

As regards the substance of advantage, inside the penalty area advantage is defined solely in terms of scoring a goal ?immediately? (i.e., within a play ? roughly ? a pinball-type carom off one player to another player and then into the goal would be included). If a goal is scored ?immediately,? count the goal and card only if the original offense by the defender deserved it outside the context of S4 or S5 (Law 12 reasons for sending-off). If a goal is not scored, regardless of the reason, whistle and call for a penalty kick.