Question Number: 31310

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/2/2017

RE: Under 15

Iain of Las Vegas, Nevada USA asks...

Attacking player advances into penalty area and makes contact with defender. AR raises flag indicating offside, CR indicates offside by raising arm, before the IDF kick is taken AR waves flag to get CR's attention, AR informs CR that the defender had tripped the attacker inside the penalty area and had inadvertently given the wrong signal (AR was a young referee with limited knowledge). CR changes the call from offside to PK. Was this the correct action.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Iain
Yes the decision was correct. A referee may change any decision provided he has not restarted the game or terminated it.
So all that was wrong here was poor mechanics. Correct decision in Law was a penalty kick.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Iain,
As Ref McHugh says, the law permits a referee to change a decision on realising that it was incorrect or on the advice of another match official, provided the game has not restarted or the referee has not left the field at the end of a half, or terminated the match.

Once the referee realised that a mistake had been made, changing the decision to a penalty was the correct action to take. It would have been better if the AR had not made an incorrect signal to start with but the important thing is that the officials got the decision right in the end.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If the CR accepts the AR input BEFORE the INDFK restart is taken he can change to the PK. The appearance of confusion & dismay at a reversal might be disruptive but it is best to get the decision correct!
Poor mechanic or failure to recognize a proper mechanic does not do your reputation or match control any favours.
The wave flag indicating a foul or a signal of distress (as used to correct the mistake) versus a static raised flag indicating offside or ball out of play takes sometime to become muscle memory , a collective habit as is the eye contact between the CR and AR.
Cheers