Question Number: 29459

Law 5 - The Referee 6/2/2015

RE: Adult

referee of syd, Nsw Aus asks...

A injured player who need treatment can he leave the field at the goal line? But only during play can he enter at the sidelines or any if its out of play.


A player does not have to get a card for kicking ball away? Talking too csn suffice

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
On the first question an injured player can leave at the goal line. However he must re-enter from a touchline. Also an injured player must wait until play has restarted before he is allowed to re-enter. On the mechanics it is never a good idea to allow him to re-enter say in the middle of play at the touchline. The player should be asked to stay on the touchline until play leaves that area. If the player has been bleeding and the referee or AR needs to check that bleeding has been stopped with say blood soaked kit removed then the player must wait until a stoppage in play for that check to be made.

In respect of kicking the ball away the referee has discretion on whether to caution or not. The referee will take factors into account such as mood of the game, the reason it was done, time in the game, if it a blatantly unsporting, if it was done for dissent etc. A referee may decide to just have a word if he so choses. There will be times though when a caution is the only option and one that is expected.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Any player (including an injured one) who has permission from the referee can exit the FOP either at the goal line or the touchline during or after play stops.
Sometimes a player will exit at the point closest to him as a matter of expediency but must respect the fact he can only renter where and when the LOTG allow and ONLY with the permission of the referee. The referee uses situational awareness to best decide the timing of said entry given its location and possible effect on play.
The injured player ordered to leave the FOP at a stoppage by the referee to be treated may only return to the field of play after the match has been restarted and only with permission of the referee.
Once play resumes the injured player can be waved in by the referee at either touchline. If there is another stoppage after that 1st restart which puts the ball out of play the injured player may re-enter from any of the boundary lines.

The need to caution is one we debate at length. I am easily irritated by those who do stupid stuff on the FOP. Like kicking the ball away! If I rip a strip off that one, I feel compelled to award a rip a strip off their opponents as compensation if they do something stupid as well to even out the transgression. However, I am neutral, I choose not to that, I choose to caution for delaying the restart when those that DELAY the restart actually do. It sends a very CLEAR message. IF and it is an IF, the culprit is emotionally wrought for reasons I can not easily explain I have on occasion reprimanded said individual, rather than show a card as I have divined it was not done to delay the restart but rather something ,where card is salt into a wound rather than me setting the bar of intolerance for stupid stuff.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Am injured can leave the field of play from any line. If he is substituted for, he would only be allowed to reenter the field from the half way line where the substitutions occur. If he is not subbed for, then he can reenter the game with the referees permission. If referee grants permission while ball is live, then it must be from touch line. If referee grants permission at a stoppage, then it can be from any boundary line. This is per Law 5.