Question Number: 28653

Law 5 - The Referee 8/10/2014

RE: Rec Under 19

Heather of Toronto, Ontario Canada asks...

Hi

Last Thursday I was playing is League game for my under19 team and an incident occurred. During a corner kick the ball was deliberately hand balled on the line in the goal crease. Due to this a red card was given but also due to question and mouthy conduct on the part of the offender we were award an automatic goal this later lead to a 3-3 tie. Due to my leagues ridiculous ruling we skipped over time and proceeded to penalty kicks. We won, later however the decision was appealed and now we must replay said playoff game. I was wondering if you have any info on this type of incident and what I can use to argue against this decision because there currently is no evidence that says the refs call was wrong or that is was really right. Please I could really use some help with this situation it utterly heartbreaking for me and my fellow team mates who have worked our asses off all season.

Thank you and I look forward to your reply

Sincerely, Heather

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Heather,
I regretfully inform you that the referee has erred in law! Although the referee was hopefully correct in showing a red card to the defender and sending her off reducing them by a player if the deliberate handling denied a scoring opportunity! I do HOPE this occurred! This is a DFK offence thus a PK because it occurs inside the penalty area! You MUST BE ALLOWED to take that PK kick when the deliberate handling occurred! The referee has ABSOLUTLEY NO AUTHORITY TO AWARD A GOAL!!! No matter the defender was a mouthy bit of trollop and she illegally prevented the ball from crossing the goal line under the crossbar and between the posts .
The match must be replayed!
sigh I know it sucks but be sure to inform the league you want a referee that ACTUALLY knows the laws, not one who makes them up! Good luck in the replay!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Heather
The referee made a serious error in Law here. A referee has NO POWERS to award an automatic goal. It can happen in rugby or maybe some other sports but not soccer. It was either a goal or it wasn't. If the ball did not cross the goal line then the only decision possible was to award a penalty kick and dismiss the player. As the referee made a serious error in Law, which was protested, then the only possible action open to the League is a replay. That seems harsh but it is the only accepted outcome. the penalty kick could have been missed and as that is a possibility the League must give the benefit to the appellant. It has happened at the highest level where a World Cup qualifying game had to be replayed because the referee at a penalty kick awarded an IDFK restart instead of a retake of the penalty on an offence by the attacking team on the scored penalty.
Also if the referee argues that the ball crossed the line before being stopped then the only possible sanction for the offender, who handled the ball, was a caution. If the player dissented the decision she could be sent off for a 2nd caution for dissent. But that is not what happened
What it does show is that teams need to know the Laws as well as referees and this should not have been accepted by the team on the day as a viable decision.