Question Number: 29895

Law 5 - The Referee 11/7/2015

RE: Amateur Adult

Daniel Cluett of Naxxar, Malta asks...

Through ball given to an onside player. Linesman raises flag regarding another offside player who was not involved in the play. Ref sees linesman but signals play on, attack ends in a goal. Ref signals a goal. After being confronted by opposing players, ref approaches linesman and changes his decision to an offside. There was no kick off before the change in decision.

Is he allowed to change his decision after giving the 'play on' signal and also signaling a goal?

On a separate note, is it legal to give a player a yellow card while he is not aware? (This happened to me personally, I was jogging away from the incident and was not aware I was being booked. I later received another yellow that to my surprise became a red)

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Daniel
Generally when a referee waves down an offside flag he has determined that the assistant made an error and in fact there was no offside or at least that is how it looked to the referee. Now in this situation the referee when he spoke to the assistant referee received additional information that he was not aware of and as such he can go back to the original call which is the raised flag. Not good mechanics by the referee yet perfectly legal in law even after signalling a goal or allowing play to continue. The referee could not change his decision once play restarts.
Now just another thought here. You mention offside yet perhaps the flag was for an offence say deliberate handling or some other offence unseen by the referee such as a push / pull off the ball. Perhaps the referee thought the flag was for offside which he thought that it could not be hence his decision to allow play to continue.
Now on the caution good mechanics should dictate that the player should knows that he is being cautioned. Raising a yellow card with the player oblivious to this is not good practise and referees should ensure that players even if they turn away should be shown the card in a way that informs the player that he is cautioned. Is it legal? Well the card was issued for I assume a cautionable offence and as such a 2nd caution will result in a dismissal. Put it this way. Could a player who has received two cautions not get sent off?
Did Simunic of Croatia not know that he got two cautions in the WC game v Australia? He certainly was not looking at the referee when he got the cards that sent him off. Even if the cards did not *register* with him it did not take away the fact that cards did issue.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Daniel,
YES
A referee has the authority to change a decision as long as he has not restarted play. So he has up until the kick off to disallow the goal. Now his reasoning might be sound even if the mechanics are poor. The important aspect of any decision is to arrive at the correct one. Sometimes additional information comes to light from a neutral AR or 4th after play is stopped. Usually a linesman is not a neutral official but a team representative helping out for ball in or out? With a neutral official providing additional information, the CR reflects on what he already knows than considers the extra information provided and arrives at a final outcome which can be different than perhaps he initially went with.

The terms you used, signal play on? Was this referring to waving off the Linesman (non neutral) raised flag? Or was it to signal advantage for a foul? Also is your use of the term linesman really a misnomer for AR? The CR can reflect on AR input more so than linesmen?

We must assume the CR is reversing the decision of a goal based on NEW information that he was unaware of initially. A referee with integrity sees what he sees even if we might see it differently. If there was a unnoticed foul or transgression by the team scoring the goal PRIOR to the ball entering the goal the LOTG do not permits a goal to be awarded. What the transgression could have been is hard to say with no resources to talk to the CR. Perhaps an unnoticed foul off the ball or maybe an offside player interfered with an opponent off the ball ?

It is important for a referee to acknowledge the occasional mistake just as it is important that he not make too many.

A 2nd caution does result in a red card send off. The fact your back was turned or some poor mechanics by the referee where you fail to see the raised yellow card will not set aside the match report claiming you were cautioned and the card was shown. I much prefer eye contact and talk to the player blue asking for name, then stating he is being cautioned for, then shown the card. Sometimes though players are obtuse and reluctant to be beckoned forward and just turn or walk away. Then it becomes a dissenting action where another 2nd card might be forced upon the referee. Contrary to popular belief we dislike sending off players, hurting their team chances to compete, so we flash a card to the back rather then get into a struggle of wills .

Now it might be poor mechanics that you missed seeing the 1st card rather than a deliberate disrespectful disregard but hopefully you recognize the actions you were being held accountable for were necessary in the opinion of the referee. I know it is difficult to put the shoe on the other foot at times. I can assure you most referees do only what they believe is necessary for the good of the game based on what they see from where they see I,t in a blink of an eye. The ARs are there to help the referee take on his match his decision his reputation!
Cheers