Question Number: 35854

Law 5 - The Referee 1/4/2025

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello

one question please.

Law 8

Dropped ball

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

How to asses it when there is no last touch?

Situation:

A5 throws the ball in. So the ball is in play. Another player does not touch the ball. The referee stops the play. (e.g. due to a crazy spectator, second ball on the field or injury)

How to restart such a situation?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
Thanks for the question.

For me there are a couple of options here. One is that the referee could determine that play was stopped just before the throw in, in which case it is a retake. That could be the most viable restart particularly if the time between the throw snd the stoppage is slight with no obvious play.

The second option is to drop the ball on the touchline to the team that had the throw in or for that matter just wait a second or so until the ball is played which could result in a natural stoppage such as another throw in or whatever for which that restart can be halted.

The Law Book says in Law 5 that referees should operate within the framework of the Laws of the Game and the ‘spirit of the game’. Referees are expected to use common sense and to apply the ‘spirit of the game’ when applying the Laws of the Game.
It also states that the Laws cannot deal with every possible situation, so where there is no direct provision in the Laws, IFAB expects the referee to make a decision within the ‘spirit’ of the game and the Laws – this often involves asking the question, ‘what would football want/expect?’

Would there be much if any complaint in your stoppage example if the referee said *okay we will start again with the throw in*