Question Number: 30547

Law 7 - Match Duration 6/27/2016

RE: social Other

Pierre of jhb, jhb rsa asks...

Morning. I would like to know in a soccer match, what happens when a referee refuses to continue referring a game. A new ref is asked to referee the game. How should the game continue. then the next ref refs for 10 minutes then walks of the field. A third ref is then asked to ref the game. Would like to know when a new ref is referring the samew game should the game continue with the game being played with the time left or should the game start from the start.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The game should continue with the new referee taking over from the last referee with the same circumstances at that time such as time elapsed, cautions etc. The game should only last as long as the set match duration that is 90 minutes or whatever.
So in your case if the 3rd referee took over with say 20 minutes remaining then that is what he plays, 20 minutes. It does happen from time to time that a referee gets injured and cannot continue. The 4th official takes over and just continues the game having kept a record of the game to that point which he confirms with the referee that is time elapsed, cautions etc. Where there is no 4th official the referee briefs the new referee of the match details to that point if one can be found otherwise the game is abandoned.