Question Number: 31550

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/19/2017

RE: Competive Adult

gerry of Dublin, ireland asks...

Recent match my son played, he is 16yr old playing a competitive match with a league appointed referee. The situation happened when our teams defender was tackled in his own box. The centre forward dragged our defender down and the ref appointed a free out. But a scuffle ensued between the two players and the ref came over, gave our player a red card and reversed his decision to a penality.
The question is after the ref decided a free out and signaled this, I thought as the play had stopped the ref can't award a foul against our offending defender. Yes I wouldn't argue he red card, but can the ref change the free out to a penality for the attacking team ?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Gerry
You are indeed correct. Once play had been stopped then there was no possible change of the restart which was a free kick to the defending team. The decision to reverse the decision is an error in Law and a protestable decision.
Some thoughts on why this may have happened
1. Inexperienced referee
2. Referee is familiar with other codes that can reverse a decision.
3. The new law changes have flumuxed some referee with some strange decisions being made
4. He gave the penalty decision but signaled it wrong.
The only person who knows is the referee and I am sure someone asked him. I would be surprised if he was not challenged about the call during the game by the players and afterwards by technical staff.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Gerry
hmmm sounds like a discombobulating series of events to be sure!
If a referee has stopped play & awarded a free kick out then UNTIL the restart any further action undertaken by player from either team is misconduct which while cardable can not CHANGE the restart.

As my colleague Ref McHugh points out there COULD be more to this then we know? Perhaps he signalled incorrectly for the PK? Perhaps the AR (as a neutral official) informed him of an event that transpired before the foul he was originally calling and thus used new information to rescind his earlier call.

If the CR DID alter the restart based on the violent conduct AFTER the whistle it is grounds for a protest as he has altered the LOTG to award a PK for a DFK out stoppage

The thing about protest though is the willingness for leagues to entertain them and generally time limits and costs to file are required . One must check the bylaws of the association for such details.
As for the referee in question His match, his decision, his reputation! Hopefully he considers the decision in post game review & a mentor or peer has a talk to help in the learning process.
Cheers