Question Number: 26458

Law 5 - The Referee 6/15/2012

RE: Competive Adult

Patrick of Dublin, Dublin Ireland asks...

Watching the Ireland v Spain match last night the referee collided with an Irish player and knocked him over. This gave an advantage to the Spanish team.

I thought the rules in this case were to: stop play, and restart with a dropped ball.

This is distinct from the case where a player runs into the referee which would just be the same as running into one of the posts for example.

In this case the referee ran into the player. I've scoured the rules again this morning but cannot find the answer.

Cheers,
Patrick

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Patrick
The reason you could not find it because it is not there. The referee is just part of play same as the frame of the goal and if the ball hits him or he gets in the way play continues. It makes no differnce who causes it.
The situation in the Spain V Ireland game is a perfect example of this and the correct decision was made which was for play to continue.
Now referees should not be positioned so as to interfere with play and certainly not as significantly as this one. Referee Pedro Proen?a from Portugal will, I expect, be spoken to by the UEFA Referee Committee on this incident. He did seem to struggle with positioning in the game and perhaps the formations and type of play contributed to that.
Good learning point for us though and I have heard this myth about a dropped ball recently. Not sure of the genesis of that which is entirely incorrect. Someone watching too much rugby perhaps where play is stopped when the referee interferes and the restart is a scrum.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee may stop play for 'any reason.' But, a referee should not stop play for this reason. The correct positioning for a referee should not be in any space that a player needs. But, collisions happen. It is part of the match.

Like RefMcHugh, I suspect that Mr. Proenca's positioning will be a topic of discussion in the Referee Committee's debriefing.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The referee is part of the field but must do his best to be aware of where the players are and not run them over. That said, unless the player is injured, play should not be stopped