Question Number: 26819

Law 5 - The Referee 9/24/2012

RE: High School High School

Q of Sugar City, Idaho USA asks...

Can a sideline ref make a call on the other end of the field? Our son knocked the ball in before the goalie could get possesion. The main ref originally counted the goal, but the sideline ref from the other end of the field talked him out of counting the goal (that would have put his team in the state tournament). The sideline ref had the same angle of view I had, which wasn't a good one to make any call.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Yes the referee can take advice from any other match official including the 4th official if one is used to assist him in making a call.
All decisions are a matter for the referee to make and generally though he will look to the assistant closest to the play to assist him make the call.
In this case the referee clearly had a doubt about what happened and both he and the lead AR may not have seen the incident clearly or had doubts about what happened whereas the trail AR may have had a good view. It is incumbent on the officials as a team to make the correct call.
The trail AR in this case will have 'conveyed' to the referee what he saw and it is then up to the referee to decide to act on it or not. In any event when the goal was disallowed and play restarted that was the end of the matter.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

It is highly unusual for an assistant referee who is at least 50 yards from the goal line (AR2) to have a better view of goal/no goal than either the referee or the assistant referee nearer to the goal line (AR1).

It is common, however, for the referee to act on the advice of the assistant referee (AR1) nearest to the goal line. Her angle of view is often the best to determine if the ball crossed the goal line. Indeed, the best procedure for the referee is to look at AR1 before signalling a goal.

Nonetheless, the referee has the power to act on (or reject) the information provided by any assistant referee (or the fourth official, if one is present).