Question Number: 30332

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/21/2016

RE: middle school intramurals girls Under 14

mary Ramirez-de-Arellano of damascus, MD United States asks...

In front of the goal between the 6 and 18 yd lines there are multiple players from both teams vying for the ball. They are all hacking at it and suddenly several players from both teams are on the ground. It looked like dangerous play but I did not whistle because I couldn't think to whom I would award the restart. Some of the girls were somewhat uncoordinated and I didn't not think they had fallen of their own loss of balance. I want to manage this in the future better than I did yesterday. I let them play on, but felt I should have whistled the play to stop. Please help. Thank you!!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mary
You do not mention if this was in open play or at a restart such as a corner or a free kick. If it is at a set play the referee could stop play either before the kick or as it is about to happen if there are multiple players pulling and dragging each other with players falling to the ground. The players can be then spoken to about the behaviour. The restart does not change.
In open play it is a matter of making a call on what you see. If you want to stop play say because of a dangerous situation and there is no apparent foul then do so immediately and the restart is a dropped ball from where the ball was when play was stopped. NFHS has an IDFK restart if one team is in clear possession. The DB is rarely a great approach although it could have worked here. The skill to develop to limit the need to stop play is to improve your focus on what is the first offence, the one that is the cause of the situation to develop in the first place. With experience you can improve your identification of fouls and /or the cause of situations that kick off the hacking et al. It might even be a player laying on the ball being a danger to themselves which is a foul. That can attract player into close proximity of each other with some falling over each other etc.
To do that it is worthwhile to think back as to your position at the time, what you were looking at and how did the situation develop. Sometimes we get into poor situations where we cannot get a good angle of view of the players, our view may be blocked out by other players not involved in the incident. We can also perhaps focus on the ball when we would be better served focusing on the landing / drop area of the ball where the players are congregated.
Many times as well referees have to be brave and give what they see even if it a penalty kick.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Mary,

Sometimes players come together in a group and start falling over each other through nobody's fault. It can especially happen in low-level games like you describe. There's a reasonable chance that there was no foul.

But as you say, you're unsure of what happened - that indicates you may have been out of position. Were you too far away?

Generally you want to have an angled view - mostly side on. Somewhere just outside the left corner of the Penalty Area probably would have been an ideal position, and ensure you move around if you feel that you can't see what's happening.

In scenarios like this (particularly at lower grades) when players start falling over and you feel that it's starting to get dangerous but through nobody's fault, you can stop play and restart with a drop ball.

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Mary,,
Please remember that in middle school as well as high school, the safety of players is a top priority. If you feel that a dangerous situation is occurring, you need to stop play immediately. If there is no other reason for a stoppage such as illegal equipment, and neither team has control of the ball, a drop ball is to be conducted. If a team has control of the ball, that team is to be awarded an indirect kick from the spot of the ball at the time the whistle to stop play was sounded. In your situation, you should have stopped play immediately and used the restart that applied. I hope this helps and that you have a very successful spring season.