Question Number: 30317

Law 6 - Assistant Referee 4/18/2016

RE: Competitive Under 13

Brad of Plymouth, Michigan United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30296

Similar but different situation to that described, but given the question it makes sense to attach this to that thread.

This weekend I was referee, with a corner kick on my left side and my AR on my right. I was positioned 'near post at the edge of the PA. Kick came across the goal and attacker shot to far post. Goalkeeper made a diving save and flung the ball out of goal, with his body landing well within goal. At the deflection, the defenders immediately pushed forward and my AR (who happens to be my son) moved up. The ball had clearly made it TO line, but I could not tell from my angle whether it was OVER the line so I watched my AR, trying to determine whether he had seen goal or not (all the while, attacking team's coaches are howling for a goal). When I recognized that my AR was continuing to move up field beyond the offside line I signaled 'thumbs up' to him, raised my eyebrows and mouthed 'goal?' to which he shook his head 'yes'.

I blew whistle and came to him to confirm that he had indeed called the goal. In the first few seconds I had mistaken his run to midfield as an adjustment to the moving 2nd last defender, hence the initial confusion. In our case, the delayed call was only about 3-5 seconds and the team scored upon was not arguing. (I think the keeper himself knew it was a goal).

In my view, we probably handled this as well as could be expected. But if it were an AR who didn't know me as well, that informal communication may not have worked. My son post-game asked 'For this situation, is there some informal signal that I should give you to indicate the goal?' (Other than simply running up field).

I know that the AAR now has a horizontal signal to indicate 'goal' for this very situation (in new 2016 LOTG). Is there any informal signal for AR in this, or should there just be a clear run up field?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Brad
When the ball crossed the line and came back out again the AR should have raised the flag above his head to signal that the ball had in fact crossed the goal line. When the signal is seen and acknowledged by the CR the AR then sprints 25 / 30 yards or so up toward the half way line. That confirms to the CR that a goal has been scored.
If you had seen this procedure you would have known that it was a goal with no need for any further communication.