Question Number: 31521

Law 6 - The Other Match Oficials 5/10/2017

RE: Select Under 15

Andrew of Columbus, OH USA asks...

I was working as an AR a junior high school-age game. During the game, a player committed an obvious handling foul in his own penalty area. The referee (far from the play) did not call it, so I put my flag up and signalled for the foul. I thought I saw the referee wave off my foul call, so I did not persist. I discussed the incident with the referee at halftime, and he said that he did not see my signal. My question: what should have been the proper way to handle this situation so my signal was not missed?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Andrew,
hmmm you thought? What did he do to make you think that? What was discussed in the pregame? I ALWAYS use my voice as CR to thank the AR and give a thumbs up before wavering it away with a downward palm action thus saying I got this if I will not whistle play dead so the AR will KNOW I want him or her to drop the flag.

If you saw a 100% certain foul from a viewpoint the CR does not have and you raise your flag with the wiggle to indicate it is a foul not an offside you keep that flag raised until the CR orders you to put it down or a whistle goes and you then get the CR attention to TALK and discuss before you permit a restart to go unchallenged! B sure the CR KNOWS what you saw before any restart. The reason why we stress eye contact. Signal we need to talk call him over but be sure the information is relayed in such a way as to not deliberately embarrass him or you!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Andrew
The proper way is for the AR to make eye contact with the referee. Once that eye contact is made the referee will either signal for the foul or if he disagrees with it then he makes an obvious wave down signal with his hand and arm.
If eye contact is not made then the AR has to communicate in some way with the referee. Without buzzers I believe the only way is a shout to the referee.
Now some other thoughts here
1. The CR should not be far from play inside the penalty area and if on the diagonal he should have the AR plainly in view
2. One would think that there would have been appeals for the handling which makes the CR look for assistance to the lead AR if he has not seen it.
3. If the flag is not seen then in some instances it must be maintained held up such as for the ball out of play, violent conduct,