Question Number: 25594

Law 5 - The Referee 10/12/2011

RE: High School Varsity Under 18

Christopher of Eastound, WA USA asks...

This happened in a high school game where my dad was the AR, and we had a little argument on this one after the match:

An offensive player on the opposing team (blue team) crosses the ball into the box. The ball is going too far, and not to anyone specific. One of the defenders on my team, (white team) is about 5 yards to one side of the penalty mark He jumps up to get the ball with his hands raised. The ball hits his arm and bounces straight down to the ground and stops. Then an offensive player (blue team) runs straight to the ball that was dropped almost to his feet (which would have otherwise gone to no one, near the outside of the box, if it wasn't stopped), takes the shot, and the ball goes over the crossbar. The ref awarded the penalty kick. I thought that there shouldn't have been a penalty kick because the offensive player played the advantage by taking the shot. What do you say?

Thanks.
-Christopher

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Christopher
The great advantage in the penalty area debate. The 1st question the referee has to ask is whether the handling was deliberate or not. In this case the referee decided that it was. The next decision is whether to play advantage or not. That is a matter for the referee to decide not the player. If the referee allows advantage and it is lost through poor play then play just continues. If however the referee decides either to not play advantage or the advantage does not materialise within a few seconds then the free kick or penalty is awarded.
Many referees believe that it is not a good policy to play advantage on a penalty as the 'best' advantage is a penalty kick.
In this case it reads to me that the referee was perfectly entitled to award the penalty kick as he did not play advantage.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

While it may appear that the Blue player had a pretty good advantage, there could have been other factors to consider. Was he lined up to be able to take a good shot? Was he surprised by finding the ball at his feet? Was the ball stationary or moving, on the ground or bouncing? Any of those could have contributed to the player's miss over the bar. Your narrative doesn't say anything about the referee applying advantage, so perhaps from his view it didn't exist.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The current teaching in the US for advantage in the penalty area is to make no indication and wait. If the ball does not immediately go into the goal, stop play and award the penalty kick. This is an simpler approach than trying to factor lots of issues in deciding if the advantage was realized or if the original foul had any impact on subsequent play.