Question Number: 33727

Law 8 - The Start and Restart of Play 10/22/2019

RE: All Under 12

John Lubeck of Livermore, California United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 33716

Regarding referee Dawson's questions / comments:
No, I do not ever discuss the distorted vision in my one eye with teams or coaches. It seems it's sort of like making an excuse before the match.
As far as my pregame, I have this season at least so far started every game with a discussion about (1) insuring the AR is marking the offside position, and their confidence level in doing so, and (2) signaling every goal. In this game the first goal was not signaled by the AR, I approached and reminded her. The second goal was not signaled by the other AR and I approached and reminded her. Half time 1-1. Second half goals every 1-2 minutes for a period. All goals signaled by the ARs. The goal in question was 'close', too close for me to be certain and not signaled by the AR. If I had to guess, I would guess it was a goal and the AR in that split second of time was not certain either. I feel that in this instance, playing on was a good decision. That team ended up winning by one goal, 6-5, we fortunately did not affect the outcome by that decision.

Follow-up question. What would be the restart if I did stop the game in that case?

I hope that i have never and will never 'throw any AR under the bus'. At half and full time, my discussion starts with any obvious errors made by any of us, (if any), followed by what did I as the CR miss from their point of view, followed by any inputs for example crispness of signaling or often just kudos for the ARs. ARs in the age groups I CR are almost always youth.

Regarding the question of the AR not calling an offside foul that the CR clearly believes was a foul. The AR in this case was me in one of my first games and I clearly made an error in not calling the advantage gained in the head to head competition for the ball, although the attacker never got to the ball. The CR was unhappy with me (I was unhappy with myself), but did not call the offside foul.

THANKS for the wonderful sounding board!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
If a referee has to stop the game for any reason not connected with play or covered in the Laws it is a dropped ball from where the ball was when play was stopped taking into account the new instructions.
Now the closest advice we have on your scenario is the VAR protocol which states *that if the referee wants a review when play has not stopped, play should be stopped as soon as it is in a ‘neutral’ zone/situation i.e. when neither team has a good attacking possibility.*
Now that is when a review might actually come to something unlike a situation where the referee and AR have not decided on anything. Is a review between a referee and an assistant without new information such as VAR going to add anything? Also if the game is stopped inside the penalty area the ball is dropped to the goalkeeper and if the game is stopped in a neutral zone the scenario can be long past,
So for me there is nothing to be gained in stopping other than agreeing nothing was seen that required a decision. Is an AR going to say later *oh by the way that was a goal but I did not signal* ?
The final point is trust of new ARs. The prematch discussion has to cover goal / no goal scenarios. Whatever about not signaling an obvious clear goal the hairline goal scenario has to be discussed and understood.
On the hairline goal there will be appeals so the AR has to be well placed to make a credible call and also if the ball has crossed the line the clear signal as outlined in the law book. I cannot second guess no signal from an AR and if there is none then no goal. The AR could have missed it, did not see the ball crossing the line for a variety of reasons. Stopping the game to confirm that is not tenable so it does not happen.