Question Number: 35179

High School 10/24/2023

RE: High School Under 17

Mateo of New York, NY US asks...

Can a conceding team restart play from the center circle without the scoring team on the field? Saw this today and referee allowed team to score into empty goal. Never seen this before.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Mateo,
most unusual.
It is not permitted even if I might hazard a guess as to why a referee might do so!

MY first question is, WHY was there no opposition on the FOP at the start or restart?

Was there ongoing celebrations after a goal taking up too much time along the touchlines ?
Was a team late to coming out to start the 2nd half?
Was there an ongoing dispute between dissenting coaching staff and the officials?
Was the team being disrespectful and causally ignoring the warnings of admonishments of the referee insisting to take to the FOP so we can finish this match?

The LOTG in FIFA are not exactly the same as the RULES in high school but most things follow a sane path to the various outcomes. A kick off is a method to restart play after a goal or to begin the 1st, 2nd half or extra time.

Basically all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half
of the field of play with the opposition at least 10 yds from the ball until the referee gives a signal for the stationary ball to be kicked into play off the centre mark.

For a referee to signal restart from the center mark without the defending team on the pitch is not a good look and in my opinion not defensible as legal. In fact I believe it might be successfully protested if taken to the disciplinary committee . If the team was along the touchlines as part of normal play getting instructions from a dissenting coach with attitude , "Ah they can wait !" might prompt a peeved referee to say, "Screw it!" and restart. Especially if the team taking the kick off was battling time wasting efforts by their opposition.

While a referee has discretion to take appropriate action within the framework of the Laws of the Game., in these cases it is best to discipline and perhaps if verbal warnings are ignored the use of cards, cautioning or expulsion of those holding up play, rather than restart arbitrarily. Given a minimum of 7 players one who must be the keeper is required on the FOP before abandoning a match. Plus a team can not continue without a keeper so scoring into an empty net seems contrary to the LOTG even if we considered the team outside into touch as players just off the field temporarily with permission.

I could be off base here but I thought high school soccer used a horn and timer system so was the horn sounded and time running and it forced the referee to restart?
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mateo
The very few times I have seen this has been when the referee felt that the goal celebrations were excessive and delaying the restart of play. The referees were probably miffed and tried to teach a lesson. The referees decided incorrectly to restart. The referee may have also opined incorrectly that as there were no opposing players on the field that play can legally restart. Wrong on all counts.

So that action of restating the game in the manner you state is contrary to both the NFHS Rules and the FIFA Laws of the Game.

The game cannot be restarted with players in the opponents half or without a goalkeeper.
There is a myth in games that if all the players are off the field that play can restart as there are no opponents in the kicking off team’s half. That is totally incorrect yet there are videos of players not going off the field into the celebrations yet standing on the field in the opponents half to in their opinion legally counts to prevent a restart.

The correct way to have dealt with this was to identify the player/s guilty of excessive celebrations and to issue caution/s. The game can then be resarted with both teams in their respective halves.

Here are Pro players thinking it was okay
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ij5U49pcQ&pp=ygUmZW5nbGFuZCB0cnkgdG8gcmVzdGFydCBhZ2FpbnN0IGNyb2F0aWE%3D
The referee correctly halts play.

Anyway even if the referee allowed the restart there was a clear offside LOL

I also recall seeing an incident where a goal was disallowed in an English League game and players went to celebrate not knowing it was disallowed. The opponents restarted with the free kick. Huge scramble by the players to get back into position. Different circumstances though as it was a free kick not a kick off.
Here is one and the referee can argue that Blues were all in their own half albeit not ready
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YxwPwiV4oIs

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Mateo,

I checked the soccer rules of the New York City Public Schools Athletic League. National Federation of State High Association (NFHS) rules are followed with some additional modifications. However, restarting the game without the scoring team on the field is not one of the modifications.

Therefore, NFHS rules 8-1-1 and 8-1-2 should have been followed. They state: When the referee signals with a whistle, a kickoff shall initiate play at the start of each period and after goals. At the moment of the kickoff, all players, except the player taking the kickoff, shall be in their team's half of the field of play. Players of the kicker shall be at least 10 yards from the ball until it is kicked.

Thus, the game should not have been started until the opponents of the kicking team were on the field.

The only reason I can think of for this taking place is there was a ground rule (a rule agreed on by the coaches and officials before the game) stating that if one team gets a significant lead on the other, this would be done to assist the team that is losing. However, I have never heard of this before.

Thank you for this very interesting question. I hope your team is having a successful season.

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

See Question: 35183