Question Number: 30344

Law 5 - The Referee 4/25/2016

RE: Competitive Under 17

Tom Chappell of San Marcos, CA USA asks...

Seconds left in a game.

We are leading 2-1, tied under all tie breaks with team we are playing in a competition coming into game.

Ball deep on our side, player about to send long ball to opposing side. Center referee glances at watch while running, knocks down player about to kick ball, ball rolls out of bounds... Referee extremely apologetic.

Throw in awarded to opposing team, 4 yards from goal line, throw in results in goal. Tie game. Final whistle on first touch at kickoff.

What is the right way to restart the game after the ball goes out of bounds?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tom
Simple answer Yes and a red faced referee. Now the throw in will be awarded to the opponents of the last player to touch the ball so it was a correct restart in Law. The referee is just part of the field of play so there is no restart other than the reason play was stopped which in this case was the ball leaving the field of play. Now if the referee was unsighted, incapacitated due to falling down, injured etc then play would be stopped and restarted with a dropped ball. The referee could in a possible injury situation to a player stop play to check on his well being. Again a DB restart. In your situation it was just a throw in as I suspect the ball was out of play almost immediately so no need to stop play just the restart.
Now referees should do their upmost to prevent getting in the way of players in this manner or getting struck by the ball. It does happen though.
Now if you think your situation was poor have a look at this video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M_euHnegML8
While grainy and poor quality it shows the ball deflecting off the referee accidentally into the goal. No choice for the refere but to award the goal.
I awarded a corner in a recent game that there was a debate about with 4/5 minutes to go. Team so busy berating me with dissent that they failed to mark and pick up opponents with a goal scored from the corner. One would have swore I gave a penalty the hassle it caused.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Tom,
Unfortunately if the referee interferes with the match, play is not stopped. He's like a goalpost - and if the ball comes off him, then it goes back to which player touched it last. So in that case, the throw in would be the correct restart.
It's an unfortunately situation and every referee hates to have had an impact like this.
I myself have had a situation where one team was attacking, kicked it into me and I couldn't get out of the way in time. Ball stopped, other team collected the ball and scored on the counter. All I can do is apologise!

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

Hi Tom.
to be blunt that was a tough break but under the LOTG the referee did nothing wrong.
the referee is part of the playing conditions like the weather- rain or sun or the pitch- hard or soft or for all; intents and purposes; a moving dirt clod to be avoided or adapted to.
I suggest you teach your players how to defend on an attacking throw in close to goal for a start. lol


In a provincial tournament some 6 or 7 years ago we had a large adult referee run over a u-14 defender inside the PA where the youth fell onto of the ball using his arms to push the ball out from under him. Technically one could have awarded a PK and been within the LOTG to do so. It was easier to help the youth up and ask he if he was ok and restart with a drop ball. This decision was accepted without complaint. Those that claim a referee has absolutely no choice are not always absolutely correct.


A red faced referee who inadvertently gets in the way by his running over a player over has the POWER to stop the match and see if the player is all right (the referee doesn't HAVE to, but he COULD!) We do stop for serious injury and in youth we stop more often then in adult! To be fair when a referee realizes he has interfered and created a plausible injury situation, a drop ball is a better restart option in my opinion than to award an attacking throw in or corner kick or a free kick if we have the presence of mind to whistle before the ball in handled or heads out of play to sell such a decision. If the ball was simply kicked into him, a much different condition. I hold as a match condition your situational awareness one could be less inclined to award the throw in as the injury possibility is credible. While we are neutral we are not robotic when it comes to pushing the decision to be less controversial.

As a single referee I had a ball smack me square in the place that shall remain nameless. The red team had ball possession. Green team and red team all realized what had occurred and they simply stopped playing to check if I was ok. It took a few large gulps of air and some shaky deep bends to get upright and mobile. The Green player picked the ball up and handed it to me claiming red had ball possession. I dropped it to red uncontested. How well would it have gone over to award a free kick to red for green handling the ball? Technically a correct call. No whistle had sounded but as a single referee I was out of it for more than a few seconds. The LOTG do not account for everything under the sun but they give us tools to craft our own solutions on occasion.

A referee cannot always correct or undo any or every decision. Nor is he incorrect to use the LOTG or follow what the LOTG request be done.
Many an unfortunate referee blunder has resulted in an advantage or goal or loss of a goal for one team or another such is the karma of fate. Referees are neutral, they are not supposed to interfere with the outcome of a match. Yet they do enforce a standard of justice by their abilities to determine fair and foul A ball bouncing off them is simply part of the match, a player running into them is part of the match. If we are to consider the referee running into players is to be part of the match we can also consider whether we inflicted an injury that requires a stoppage just as we can allow the play to conclude normally.

from our pitch to your pitch in the spirit of fair play

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 30349