Question Number: 31583

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/5/2017

RE: Adult

adam wallace of yamagata, Japan asks...

rule on outside agents states:
'they must disallow the goal if: " the other person was an outside agent or official from one of the teams and interfered with play' " ¢ 'they must allow the goal if: " " the other person was a player, substitute, sent-off player or official of the team that conceded the goal'.

this seems contradictory.if the official from team scored on interfered with play by coming on the pitch but still couldnt stop the goal -does the goal stand or not??

thanks as ever!!!!!!!!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Adam
I am unsure from where you sourced the quote.
Anyway the principle behind this law is that if the interference happens when a goal has been scored while a person not participating in the match is on the pitch the decision rests on who interfered with play.
If the offender is from the conceding team such as a substitute or team official then the action has been unsuccessful and as the scoring team has done nothing wrong by infringing the laws then a goal is awarded. The opposite is that if the scoring team has infringed the Laws of the Game through interference by a substitute, team official etc then a goal cannot be awarded to that team. It is a simple matter of equity and Law 10 which states that a ** goal is scored when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided that no offence has been committed by the team scoring the goal**.
Law 3 has been updated here as well in that if a ball is going into the goal and the interference is by an outside agent who does not prevent a defending player from playing the ball, the goal is awarded if the ball enters the goal (even if contact was made with the ball).

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Adam,
As Ref McHugh implies, the quotations you give are not from the current Laws of the Game. The relevant part of Law 3 is as follows:

''the referee must disallow the goal if the extra person was:
a player, substitute, substituted player, sent off player or team official of the team that scored the goal [...]
an outside agent who interfered with play unless a goal results as outlined above in 'extra persons on the field of play' [...]

the referee must allow the goal if the extra person was:
a player, substitute, substituted player, sent off player or team official of the team that conceded the goal
an outside agent who did not interfere with play''

So at least part of the apparent ambiguity comes from the fact that you seem to be working from something other than the official wording.

If using the accurate, up-to-date wording, there is no contradiction that I can see.

As ref McHugh also correctly mentions, the ''as outlined above in 'extra persons on the field of play'' clause refers to the fact that if an outside agent interferes but did not prevent the ball entering the net AND did not prevent a defender from playing the ball, the goal is allowed.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 31584