Question Number: 25523

Law 5 - The Referee 9/29/2011

RE: Varsity High School

Melissa of Oakland, CA USA asks...

The referee for our game today was clearly injured, he was limping during the 2nd half and at times was unable to walk more than a couple of feet from mid-field, where he had stationed himself. He had 2 Asst. referees. Several of the players on the opposing team and our team were very physical. One of the players from the other team had been throwing himself on the ground during the match, even though he had not been touched. He did this again, when the referee was standing at midfield and the ball and play were right outside the penalty area. The asst. ref. was at the opposite side of the field and the other one was on our side, but on the other half. No call was made, because he could not see it, when both players clearly fouled each other. This escalated...at what point should the center ref. halted play, because he was unable to walk, or replaced himself with one of the asst. refs?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Melissa
The answer could lie in the certification of the two assistants. If they are certified to referee the game then IMO the referee should have stopped immediately and handed over to the most senior of the two ARs. The CR then acts as an AR and as he cannot run the CR calls offside with the former CR doing ball in/out only. If he cannot continue as an AR then a replacement is found.
If neither AR is fully certified to referee then the referee has to either continue as best he can or he has to abandon the game.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Sometimes neither AR is qualified to work the match. Then the referee has to decide if it's better to continue with a subpar effort or to abandon the match. If he's going to continue it may be a good idea to talk with both coaches to explain.

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

See Question: 25556