Question Number: 26876

Law 15 - Throw In 10/3/2012

RE: Adult

Jani Lavikainen of Lappeenranta, Finland asks...

Hi!

This happened in Finnish 1st league of soccer on this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10La4vwvu14

Two balls are thrown-in almost simultaneously by HJK (blue shirt team) and game was allowed to continue until HJK made a goal.

Goal was accepted.

Is there a rule for this? Referee accepted goal, because 'other ball was not affecting to game'.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

If a second ball enters the pitch the referee is not obligated to stop play immediately but should consider whether it has impacted play.

A restart being taken with 2 balls from 2 different locations is an odd situation, but I'm not convinced this affected play - the only players who appeared to be distracted were 30 yards or so from play anyway, so I think the referee was justified in allowing play to continue - though I can't tell if any of the players around the goal were distracted or not.

Consider how far away the other ball was and the referee probably wasn't even aware of the incident, it would then come down to whether he discusses the incident with the AR (or whether the AR brings it to his attention). To disallow a goal because of this, I'd expect the referees to feel very certain that play was affected, and I'm not convinced it was.

Ideally the referee would have spotted it at first and stopped play then and there to order the retake, but I can't blame the referee for missing it.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jani
It is a matter for the referee to decide based on the circumstances during the game and whether in his opinion the extra ball interfered with play.
This is what Law 5 states
'' If an extra ball, other object or animal enters the field of play during the match, the referee must stop the match only if it interferes with play. Play must be restarted by a dropped ball from the position of the match ball when play was stopped, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped.
If an extra ball, other object or animal enters the field of play during the match without interfering with play, the referee must have it removed at the earliest possible opportunity.''
So in this case the decision hinges on the referee's opinion as to whether there was interference or not. It seems to me from looking at the video that the throw in was taken from the correct location, that the defending team got on with play and that the incident with the extra' ball did not interfere with play. There are two White players involved in the 'incident' with the extra ball. The player on the half way line was certainly not interfered with as part of play while the 2nd player's movement is towards the 2nd ball probably 4/5 paces yet I could not see him participating in play for the goal incident, as the ball had already entered the penalty area before he got 'attracted' into the incident.
Put it another way. If the ball was thrown on to the field of play and it was kicked out again would that merit disallowing the goal because two players from the conceding team were close to it? No it would not so I can't see any significant difference here with all of the White team that mattered, 9 players, involved in play. Indeed I suspect most of the 9 did not even know what happened.
There was a time when a 2nd ball entered the field of play play had to be stopped. That was used as a ploy by many teams to get play stopped in a promising situation. That is no longer the case and I have quoted the current Law.
The referee deemed that the 2nd ball did not interfere with play and that is his call based on the way play unfolded. Another referee can interpret it differently on the basis of, in his opinion, it is 'interference' in which case play is stopped and the restart is a dropped ball from where play was stopped.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It appears that about 18 players and the referee were unaware of the ball that was thrown in near the half line. It had no effect on play, so allowing play to continue was correct.

What I think is interesting is that the throw from the half line was probably closer to the place the ball left the field than the other one taken closer to the penalty area. But with the ball exiting the field on a high arc and at an acute angle to the touchline, it's pretty much anyone's guess where it crossed the line.