Question Number: 16731

Law 7 - Match Duration 9/16/2007

RE: rec Under 17

Tony Mendoza of windsor, california usa asks...

Incident: A referee ended our season opener at 80 minutes (10 min.short). Knowing that once the whistle blows the game is over and can't be restarted even by the referee (we lost 2-1).
After both teams finished the good sportmanship congradulations our Head coach informed the referee of the potential error. The referee confirmed and apologizied to the Head coach for ending the game 10 mins prematurely and then walked off to the referee station.

Question: Although not required by the code of ethics specifically should'nt he have informed the opposing team an verbally apologized to the loosing team.
Thanks, Asssitant Coach

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Tony,
if the referee in question played 45 minutes in the first half and only 35 minutes before ending the second he has misapplied the law and you could protest the outcome! Just because he blew thinking to end the game if time was not up it is an inadvertant stoppage and the two teams should be recalled and the remaining ten minutes played out! Our YOU CALL IT question #2 deals with this topic in detail
Mind you the referee must agree that he did in fact finish ten minutes early not simply say my watch says different! Because unless the referee confirms that time was incorrect his opinion as a fact of play even if completely wrong will stand as uncontestable! No referee should knowingly not try to finish up a match if he admittedly knowingly cut it short! Bad karma poor refereeing!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

If the referee figures out he shorted you time he must bring the players back and play out the time left.

There are times when referees think it is too dark to play safely. Those referees are usually too far from play and their "old" eyes are not able to see as well as all the other young eyes on the field. Those referees could have checked the newspaper and found out when sunset was then adjusted both periods to have an equal amount of time.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Tony, you are incorrect. If a referee ends a match 10 minutes early and realizes his error, he is REQUIRED to have the teams take the field and finish the match.