Question Number: 27875

Law 13 - Free Kicks 10/11/2013

RE: School Team - League play vs. other HS High School

David Johnson of Hamilton, OH USA asks...

White team was awarded a free kick just outside the goal box. Green team set up a wall of players. The ball was placed by the ref and a signal given by the ref to proceed. The ball was kicked by the white team and went out of bounds over the end line without being touched. The GK retrieved the ball out of bounds and was prepared to do a goal kick when the ref took the ball and placed it back where the free kick was just taken and let the white team kick again, resulting in a goal. Coaches were screaming for an explanation and were told that the ref saw the green team only had 10 on the field when the first kick was taken. Was it correct for him to award a second free kick in that situation. Ohio State High School Athletic Association rules in effect.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
Why did Green team only have 10 players on the field of play? Did a Green player deliberately leave the field of play to say place an opponent in an offside position. Did the Green player have permission to leave the field of play say on an injury/substitution? Was the free kick on the whistle due to a substitution / injury?
If a player deliberately leaves the field of play without permission the player is cautioned and the restart is an IDFK from where the ball was when play was stopped unless of course advantage can be played.
Now if the leaving offence was committed before the free kick then the referee cannot go back to that offence once the kick is taken. I guess this has all to do with timing. The referee could deem that the leaving happened between the kick and the ball going out of play in which case an IDFK can be taken close to where the ball was first kicked after the player is cautioned.
Generally if a team plays short and there is no fault to that team the outcome of a restart is accepted with play continuing as normal.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

This seems strange, unless Green was in the process of substituting and that hadn't been completed. In that case, the referee should have made clear that the kick should not take place. But that's not what you said happened - the ref evidently gave the signal to proceed without seeing that Green was short a player. So he decided that because of his mistake in allowing play to resume, he'd go back to the restart.

Incidentally, there's no requirement that the team have the maximum number of allowed players on the field at any given time. I've had teams that subbed 4 out and only 3 came in, and I didn't notice. So off we go - and the missing player can come in at the next stoppage. (If it was youth recreational play, I'd probably mention to the coach that they were short a player - those kids miss their call to come in and it's not their 'fault'.)

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Unless Ohio has some weird requirement (like American Football) that all 11 players must be on the field, there's no reason the referee should have called for a retake of the free kick.

I assume this was an Indirect free kick since you say the ball was just outside the Goal Box. I only mention this because maybe the referee first thought he had made a mistake by not signalling for an Indirect and came up with 'only 10 men on the field coach' to cover his mistake. But that really doesn't make any sense and you probably meant penalty area not goal area anyway.

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