Question Number: 8695

Law 5 - The Referee

RE: youth AYSO Under 12

Lee of Lancaster, CA USA asks...

Team A playing Team B in overtime "golden goal" when the GK of Team A comes to the arc to tackle a Team B player with ball. The B player with ball evades the GK and kicks the ball towards the open goal of Team A while a player from Team A sprints and tries to clear the ball before it passes the goal line inside the goal. The AR who has positoned himself at the corner post indicated the the ball had clearly completely passed the goal line inside the goal before the player kicked it out. The center referee who is near the arc does not see the AR's signal and allows play to continue until he hears the roar of protest from spectators on Team B's side. He whistles for stop of play and consults with the AR and declares a goal was scored. Is the center ref allowed to do that? I thought the ref's decisions cannot be challenged once play has been allowed to continue. What L/sOTG applies here? Can the match be protested? Thank you.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Lee when the ball crossed the shorter field boundary it was no longer in play. The referee's assistant saw it cross the boundary and signaled the referee. When the referee saw the signal he acted on this -new- information and stopped play. ..After consultation with his assistant he found the ball crossed the goal line under the crossbar and between the posts. This meets the criteria for a goal as outlined in Law 10, provided no infraction of the Laws of the Game had been committed previously by the team scoring the goal. This is the way things are supposed to happen. ..If the referee had used proper mechanics and looked through play towards his assistant he may have seen the raised flag. This is something the referee needs to work on, hopefully he will. He does understand the coordination between referee and assistant and he does understand that he may act on any information provided, at the time he learns it. ..This duty from Law 5 supports this referee's decision: ..-acts on the advice of assistant referees regarding incidents which he has not seen- ..Further on in Law 5 we find: ..-Decisions of the Referee..The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are final...The referee may only change a decision on realizing that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee, provided that he has not restarted play.- ..Here we see, in Law, the referee was correct in his action, he allowed play to continue until such time as he realized an assistant knew something he didn't. He stopped play and found out he had allowed play to run after the ball had left the field of play. Because it left where it did he was forced, by the Laws, to award a goal and restart play with a kick off. He did so. All is as it should be, except the referee's mechanics.....Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Well, first of all, FIFA did away with the golden goal this year. That said, play did not stop and restart which is what's confusing you. Once the referee has restarted play, he cannot change a decision. Here, play merely continued until he recognized his AR. Then, after conferring with the AR, a goal was properly awarded. This sequence of events is no different then the referee not noticing the AR with his flag raised for offside for awhile. Once he does, he may then grant the offside call.

Answer provided by Referee Dawson

Hi Lee, .sounds like a bit of poor mechanics and positioning by the referee caused play to continue AFTER the goal had been scored. The eye contact for such a situation between the AR and the referee would seen a raised flag and whistled it much quicker. .(LAW 10 ? The Method of Scoring.A goal is scored when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided that no infringement of the Laws of the Game has been committed previously by the team scoring the goal...My colleague Ref Fleischer addressed this very well I think. Despite the error in the WAY the referee handled the AR's information, the referee, if he cannot verify the incident himself, is obligated to act on the information of a neutral official who was better positioned to SEE the event. .(LAW 6 ? The Assistant Referees Duties.Two assistant referees are appointed whose duties, subject to.the decision of the referee, are to indicate when misconduct or any other incident has occurred out of the view of the referee).(LAW-5 The Referee.Decisions of the Referee.The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are final..The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee, provided that he has not restarted play.)..ANY match can be protested if you pay the money and file it. In this case it would be a lost cause as there is no basis for an appeal. Cheers

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