Question Number: 26225

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 4/23/2012

RE: comp Under 14

jeb of vero beach, fl usa asks...

A player shoots and the keeper who is right on the goal line, catches the ball above his head. The AR sees that the whole ball crossed the line and signals that a goal has been scored but the referee doesn't see the AR's signal and play continues. The AR 'taps his badge' and eventually after several minutes the referee comes over to the AR and is told the goal was scored. The referee awards the goal to much to the anger to the team scored against who said 'too much time has lapsed'. Did the ball going out of play (by scoring the goal) end all play, even if play went on in error, regardless of the time?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The answer is simple if this was corrected the next time the ball went out of play. Regardless of how much time has elapsed, the referee may award the goal.

The answer is different if the ball has gone in an out of play (such as throw-ins, goal/corner/free kicks) several times before the AR is able to inform the referee. At that point, it is too late to go back and award the goal. The referee must include the circumstances in the match report and leave it to the league to decide what to do about the error.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jeb
The referee here is entitled to award the goal if play has not restarted from another stoppage such as a throw in, free kick, goal kick etc. Once play restarts the referee cannot go back and play simply continues with the matter being reported to the competition organisers. The award of the goal is not 'time bound' and the defining moment is the next actual stoppage, however long that takes
In this case it reads to me that play continued until the referee saw the flag. Play, while it should have, did not stop. Once he was told that a goal had been scored with no stoppage or restart the only option available to the referee is to award a goal.
Now what it does point to is poor mechanics by the referee and perhaps the CR was not used with ARs as he should be making eye contact with the AR on all such situation.However he did not compound his error by not awarding the goal.
I suspect that had the goal been awarded immediately the team would have protested that the ball was not over the line.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I would just add that this is one of those times the AR should do whatever needs to be done to get the referee's attention.