Question Number: 30613

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 7/16/2016

RE: Competitive Under 10

Xavier Angulo of San Diego, Ca USA asks...

Ref blew the end of the first half while a shot was in mid flight. Does the goal count?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Xavier
This is a pretty regular question now on the site. The game ends at the moment of the whistle so no further play is allowed which includes the flight of the ball. If a goal is scored after the whistle it does not count.
As I have said previously it is not good practice to do this although it is not incorrect in Law. Some referees time the game in a very exacting manner. That may happen more regularly in certsinly countries where timing in other sports such as football, basketball is exact to the second. Not so in soccer generally and a second or so can and should be found to see a play out to a conclusion. If the shot goes wide or it is saved that outcome will cause less gripe than disallowing a goal due to timing of a whistle.
As an aside in NFHS games as my colleague Referee Manjone points out that once the match timing clock being used by the match timer shows zero the game ends.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

As for the actual answer to the main question, Ref McHugh has it right as usual, so I will defer to him.

I would just mention that in previous debates on this, the relative merits of the FIFA/IFAB and NFHS provisions on deciding when a game is over have been discussed. Both have their proponents and opponents and I can see good points and bad points in both. However I would say that whichever version you are using, I find the idea of blowing the whistle while the ball is in mid-flight on the way into the goal, just doesn't sit comfortably with me.

I rather like the way this is handled in basketball where although they used a fixed timing system with a buzzer, so long as ball is in the air before the buzzer sounds, if the ball goes in, the shot still counts.