Question Number: 30487

Law 5 - The Referee 6/6/2016

RE: Competitive Travel Adult

Ray Parrish of Fredericksburg, VA USA asks...

It is the final seconds of a hotly contested game between Team X & Team Y. Team X shoots; goalkeeper for Team Y collects the ball over her head, then drops the ball backwards. AR2 sees the ball cross the line between the posts & raises her flag to get CR's attention, but then fails to sprint toward the center of the field to properly signal a goal having been scored. Absent such a signal, CR blows the whistle & signals for an indirect free kick coming out, believing that AR2 has spotted an offside violation. Before any other action or communication can occur, CR again blows the whistle, ending the match.

After some discussion, CR determined that, since the match had been terminated, no corrective measure could be taken for the blown/miscommunicated call and the goal could not be allowed. The match ended in a 2-2 draw instead of Team X triumphing in the most dramatic manner.

Given the circumstances, was the final decision arrived at by CR proper within the Laws?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ray
As usual poor mechanics between the officials has caused the problem. This should have been a goal and in my opinion the referee was entitled to take the additional information provided by the AR and award the goal instead of the IDFK.
Now there has always been debate about ending a match and changing a decision after the final whistle. The old wording of the Law stated that ** 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** . IFAB has tried to clarify this with a change of text which now reads ** The referee may not change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official if play has restarted or the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half (including extra time when played) and left the field or terminated the match.**
In my opinion the fact here is that a goal was scored and that as the referee has not left the field the additional information should have been taken.
Now whether it was correct within the old Laws was somewhat debateable. The referee can argue that the game was terminated and therein is the issue.
It for this reason that many referees restart the game and then end it immediately. The question does not then arise as in this case the AR could have prevented the IDFK restart. If the referee accepts the ARs advice the referee then goes to a kick off and then ends the game immediately.