Question Number: 29927

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/16/2015

bob of pittsburgh, pa usa asks...

Is there any way to take back a call you have made if you have made it incorrectly? It seems like there's no way to correct yourself if you make an error.

What if you call a penalty kick but then your confer with your assistant referee and from your angle it looked like he was tacked in the box but the AR saw that the player got a piece of the ball and the player just tripped over the sliding defender?

And if you did want to take back a call in a situation like that (or any other situation on the field) if it was possible, what would be the procedure to do so? And what if the ball remained on the field of play rather than going OOB (which is the restart you could do)? Could you do a drop ball and claim it was an accidental call?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Bob
On an erroneous call that is corrected by advice from an assistant the referee can reverse his decision. As play has been stopped erroneously the restart is a dropped ball from where play was stopped where the whistle sounded. If the referee needs to give the decision the other way due to an unseen foul then that is not a problem either. The first foul always takes precedence
If the ball stays on the field of play and there is no call then the restart is not required.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Bob,
One of the most important aspects of being a referee is getting the decision correct. A referee has the authority to reverse, change or award no decision up until the NEXT restart of play when in fact he decided to stop play for any reason at all!

The referee can act on the advice of their ARs for any event that occurred out of their sight or to confirm what the call was that you suspected

You can stop to award a a penalty kick to blue but change it to a free kick out for red when you determine that the blue player had reached around the red shirt and was the one who deliberately handed the ball

You can stop to award a PK, then award a drop ball when you determine the ball was not deliberately played by the hand at all but only hit his face.

You can stop play to award a PK for red for a foul by blue and send him off for DOGSO but then realize the red has 12 players so you rescind the red card and restart with an INDFK out for blue

The reason you can UNDO what you thought you saw, was play had NOT yet been restarted for the reason you ORIGINALLY stopped play for.

When you err on mechanics or indicate a wrong decision but catch yourself and change based on realization Yikes I was wrong! you need to humble yourself, admit to the guys sorry, explain the when and what and fix the who and why and restart how and where required.
It is why the ARs are there to help always get eye contact and confirm .

Now while it is honourable to correct the mistake so the correct call is achieved I suggest you make as few of these mistakes as possible . The teams will respect the odd correction but not if it becomes a habit! Lol

Direct FIFA Quote off LAW 5 Referee

The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his
discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided
that he has not restarted play or terminated the match.

LAW 6 The Assistant Referee
Two assistant referees may be appointed whose duties, subject to the decision
of the referee, are to indicate:
• when misconduct or any other incident occurs out of the view of the referee
• when offences have been committed whenever the assistant referees
have a better view than the referee (this includes, in certain circumstances,
offences committed in the penalty area)

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Bob,

In high school games, officials can only correct a decision so long as the game has not been restarted. (Rule 5-1-2 on Page 31 of the NFHS Rules Book.) Decision changes do frequently occur in high school games; thus, if you are working a high school game and become aware that your decision was incorrect, you can and should change the decision before the game is restarted again.

Hopefully, you will not have many incorrect decisions to change.