Question Number: 32663

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/21/2018

RE: Rec Adult

Irishkeeper of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

Two players lie injured on the ground the referee stops play immediately and then AR2 advises the referee that a player has elbowed one of the players on the ground in back play. After issuing a red car for violent conduct what is the restart - dropped ball for the stoppage or DFK for the violent conduct.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Irishkeeper,

A referee can change his decision provided play has not yet restarted.

The referee initially decided to stop play for a drop ball restart- however, he was later advised that a foul occurred first. So the referee can change the restart to address the foul instead.

It doesn't matter if it's on or off the ball - striking is a direct free kick (or penalty kick). So because that occurred before the injury that caused the stoppage, the referee should act on the new information and go back to the foul.

If, however, the elbow occurred after the referee stopped play, then while it can be dealt with by a card it can't affect the restart, so a DB will still occur.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Irishkeeper ,
while the ball is IN play on the FOP, if the CR stops play SOLEY to deal with the two injured players, he is committed to a drop ball restart from where the ball is on the FOP subject to the special circumstances within the goal area.

The LOTG allow the CR to act upon new information from a neutral source and change the restart BECAUSE play has YET to restart!

BEFORE the CR restarts with the drop ball, the AR comes up and gives the CR NEW information on an unseen unknown event that preceded the drop ball stoppage. This is important. the TIMING of the elbow has to be before the drop ball stoppage but not previous to any other stoppage that might have occurred. If there was no previous restart then the correct restart will be a DFK or PK from where the VC occurred as a striking foul. The culprit identified will be shown a red card for VC and his team will play down a player.

If you recall the famous Zinedine Zidane's EPIC headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. The French had received a quickly taken restart for an Italian trip that occurred a very short time after the previously unseen head-butt so when the referee stopped play to deal with the downed Italian for an injury & the reason for the injury was then confirmed although the CR was still able to show Zidane the red card for VC & send him off, the restart WAS still a drop ball for a referee injury stoppage which the Italians returned to the French since they had ball possession.

The restart COULD NOT be a DFK for the VC strike by Zidane as another restart of play had occurred in-between the time of the foul and the injury stoppage
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
From your description I would say direct free kick for the striking offence.
As play has not restarted and the referee is acting on the advice of an assistant the referee is correct to punish the striking offence with a direct free kick.
Where it is not possible is in situations where play has already restarted after the offence and play is then stopped. In such cases the restart is a dropped ball. The Zidane incident is a good example where play had already restarted for another foul and then stopped for the VC situation with the referee being informed that the VC had happened BEFORE play had restarted. In such cases the referee cannot go back beyond a restart