Question Number: 15708

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/5/2007

RE: Select Under 12

Allen Theisen of Houlton, WI USA asks...

I am also a first year referee. I have a simple question on restart after issuing yellow or red cards.

If cards are issued to players on both teams where it was not clear how or who began the incident and no foul involved (e.g. swearing and then shoving)what is the restart? I'm fairly certain the restart is an indirect kick, but who gets to kick?

Or is the restart a drop ball?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The dropped ball restart is used when there is no other restart defined in the Laws of the Game. It can also be used in very rare instances when two players simultaneously infringe the Laws of the Game. Relying on this restart when you don't know what happened will make you look indecisive. You need to make a decision. If you have assistant referees, you can get their input as to what they saw, but ultimately the decision must be yours.

If you truly have no idea what happened to start a misconduct incident, you have a few choices. You can be thinking these over while you are taking names/numbers and showing the cards. You might choose a restart that is "safest" for the position on the field - a free kick outbound instead of a penalty kick. You might choose to always give the kick to the defense, or always to the offense. You might think of having an imaginary possession arrow in your head, like they use in basketball, to alternate. (Although if you're making more than one or two of these decisions in a game, you have to train yourself to be more observant.) In the example you gave, you may choose to restart based on the more severe offense. Swearing is not a foul, but shoving (pushing) is - give the free kick against the pusher.

Whatever you decide, don't make it look like you can't decide. If your announcement of the call is made confidently, they won't know that you really are not confident inside.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Allen. A dropped ball in this incident is usually the result of cowardice by the referee. Talk with your ARs and come up with who did what first. Don't need a foul to have someone start something and then restart with an IFK to the team that retaliated not instigated