Question Number: 35720

Law 8 - The Start and Restart of Play 9/24/2024

RE: Rec Adult

Doug Crawford of Folsom, CA U.S. asks...

This question is a follow up to question 35715

Hi there- If a player is injured by an impact with the ball, such as ball to head, and play is stopped outside the penalty area, play is restarted with a Dropped Ball to the team who last touched the ball.
Does the restart go to the team that kicked (and possessed) the ball before it struck the player in the head, or to the team of the player who received the head impact with the ball (assuming they are of opposing teams).
- Or is this a matter for referee judgement...
It seems unfair to give it to the player injured by the ball, taking it away from the team that had possession.
Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Doug
Good to hear from you.

Law 8 tells us and I quote ** In all other cases, the referee drops the ball for one player of the team that last touched the ball at the position where it last touched a player, an outside agent or, as outlined in Law 9.1, a match official**

So there you have it. The ball goes to the last touch even if that touch caused the game to be halted. We know what touched means in respect of other Laws such as offside.

Now the discretion to stop or when to stop is up to the referee. At Underage we may want to stop quickly yet perhaps we may wait a second or so to see if the game needs to be stopped.
At open age we may wait a tad longer to see if the player recovers without the need for a stop.
Either way it does give us a short window at our discretion to see what is happening and what needs to be done. So lets say the ball rebound off a player on Team B from a shot by Team A and it rebounds to Team A who regain possession to start again we can go with a drópped ball to Team A if we stop at that time.
There may be no need for an instant decision on the ball crashing into B so the ball could rebound to Team B so B gets the ball anyway. It could be in the penalty area or go out of play anyway or for that matter go into the goal instantly in which cse we can award a goal. The penalty area stoppage can be seen to be unfair either way yet IFAB is clear that it goes to the goalkeeper.

In the past we know that teams got into the so called Fair Play mode of giving the ball back to the team in possession so this law is to prevent that happening. Its about recreating the play at the moment play was stopped rather than the nonsense of kicking it way down field to say a goalkeeper or out from a throw in and then pressing the throw. I saw that too many times at Underage as a tactic rather than genuine fair play.

So we know that the ball is very quickly touched / controlled anyway after every play so that gives us a window of wait and see what is happening. The tricky ones are where the ball goes into a contest between opponents and we can be eager to stop play without a clear team in possession. Each situation will be different and we look to try to ensure as best we can that in our opinion it is not *Unfair* to either team.

We should make the *best* decision we can using our experience to see that happens and to ensure that it is not unfair to either team and there is no gaming this law to a team’s advantage such as feigning injury, running down the clock etc.
At Underage my primary approach is safety and making the best decision I can that has safety the number 1 priority. If I can manage that without it seeming unfair then great. If not so be it. I go with what the Law book says.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Doug,
great point the last touch could very well be accidental but we base decisions on the LOTG as well as what the game would expect realistically in terms of fairness .

At the ADULT LEVEL you get a Kareem shot off a flubbed headed or a low groin shot that goes into touch we are not as quick on the whistle to stop play so a throw-in, corner or goal kick. To this same point if you get a impact that immediately goes into touch or even scores a goal we likely go with that restart rather than a DB for a possible injury even if youth soccer!

However, you get a open 11 year old faced smack of a thunderbolt at midfield it is likely we are stopping play for safety immediately as nothing is truly going to go forward until that player is treated. In situations where the ball is being ping ponged or challenged and there was a hurtful impact to a player(s) where we decided to continue play but now are considering stopping play due to the appearance of a possible seriousness of the injury. The LOTG dictate we award the DB to the team in possession of the ball at the place it was OR if the ball is inside the PA area then the keeper gets the DB no matter if the opposite team had possession. As my colleague alluded to we are aware of each situation with regards to fairness and lean there whenever possible, but sometimes things are what they are, safety and ball location may conflict with advantage of possession!
Cheers