Question Number: 28050

Law 5 - The Referee 12/9/2013

RE: rec and h.s. High School

David Lovett of Royal Palm Beach, Florida United States asks...

My question has to do with advantage and handling the ball. If Team A passes to a teammate and Team B intentionally handles the ball but the ball still goes to Team A, can you call advantage. I was once told that only the team in possession of the ball gets the advantage call. ie: Player is dribbling, gets tripped, maintains possession. It was described that you must have possession of the ball in the first place to get the advantage call and when you pass the ball you have basically given up possession, therefore the handball must be called and you now get the free kick.
Thanks,
David

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Advantage may be called for ANY infringement that occurs when the ball is in play. The referee considers if it is a better scoring opportunity for the team that would receive the free kick by allowing play to continue. In most cases, the referee will decide it is better to stop play and reward the free kick when the infringing team is in possession of the ball. But, the key factor isn't the 'possession' but the 'opportunity.'

Watch what happens for a second or two. If the ball skips out toward an opponent of the infringing team (or towards the goal), don't stop play until you see what happens next.

There are times when match management will outweigh the advantage - - such as when a red card must be shown, or the risk of retaliation is high if play is not stopped immediately. Moreover, at lower levels of play, the opponents of the infringing team may not be able to use the advantage or prefer a free kick. But, the referee usually should look for the "opportunity" that may allow play to continue.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
Generally when there is deliberate handling playing advantage may not present due to the fact that the ball is stopped by the offending player. However if advantage does present then the referee can allow play to continue.
There are times when advantage must be played such as the deliberate handling that fails to prevent the ball entering the goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity. In those situations advantage can and should be played.
The referee can return to caution the offending player at the next stoppage should he decide that it was unsporting behaviour.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi David,

This appears to be an overcomplication of the law.

Basically, advantage is defined as 'opportunity + possession'. Possession is useless unless the attacking team has an opportunity at least as good as what they had before the foul (eg rules out possession with nowhere to go, or in an inferior field position), and naturally you can't have advantage without having possession of the ball.

What matters there is that the team ends up with possession of the ball. Don't worry about some overly complex debate over whether they had possession at the moment of the foul - that's completely irrelevant (and has no support in the laws either).

After the foul does the ball end up in the possession of the attack? If so, and if there's a fair opportunity, then apply advantage. If not, award the foul.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 5 says the referee 'allows play to continue when the team against which an offence has been committed will benefit from such an advantage and penalises the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time'. If the team would be better off by not stopping play, the ref applies advantage. It doesn't matter how the the team benefits; it can be the same player or a different player.