Question Number: 16847

Law 5 - The Referee 9/23/2007

RE: Rec Under 15

David of Vancouver, BC Canada asks...

I was refereeing a Gold level game. A challenge for the ball by two players occurred at the center line. The offensive team gained control and I followed the ball up the field. The defensive player during the challenge was injured and was down on the field, unnoticed by myself as the player was behind me. The offensive player went down the field and scored.
1) Do you play allow the play to complete or wait for someone to kick the ball out???
2) Do you call the goal back and take a drop ball where the injury occurred??

The extra goal made no difference in the game but would like another opinion

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi David,
it is important to always consider the safety of each player.
You do not have to allow play to continue!
However you are not always obligated to stop it!
You cannot call off a goal just because there was an injury unnoticed behind play unless your AR saw a foul or misconduct that you as referee did not! The opposing team if they feel bad the goal was a cheap goal can always allow their opponent a free goal to compensate!

Referees have the discretionary power to not stop play if they believe the player is only slightly injured or to stop play immediately because they suspect the injury is serious. Referees are not doctors nor do they always realize that a player is or could be injured. Players will play through some difficulty to collapse later or when the referee's attention is elsewhere.

When you are cognizant of the fact that a player is disabled but uncertain as to how badly and the opponent has ball possession in good scoring position. It is a judgment to stop play and treat the injury or treat it as a boo boo and allow play to continue! If you stop play, destroy the scoring opportunity the downed player jumps up and continues like the track start with no apparent worse for wear it does grind or frost the cookies of our patience.

Referees must certainly treat the younger players with more reasons to stop play than allow play to continue with a player possibly injured but we consider the body language, impact, location ie head collision or loss of consciousness we stop immediately a trip and a bit of wind lost, a sore foot from a cleat clash perhaps not so quick.

I rather the players not kick the ball out! I hope to be aware of the situation and competent enough to judge better get medical aid in here ASAP or this guy is looking for a respite after losing possession and he will not be affecting the development of play at this point.

It is a unwritten code of sorts that if one team with ball possession, and the play is stopped by the referee to deal with an injury the opposing team will not contest the drop ball restart or offer to return the ball back to the original team's possession.

This also applies to the act of deliberately kicking a ball out of play forcing the referee to stop play where he had not yet decided the injury was reason enough. The players expect the ball to be returned to them as a matter of fair play!

The deal here though the team is not under any obligation in law to do as I just said only in conscience. Some teams will have violent clashes when one team does not reciprocate as expected!

It is good you seek to review decisions post game, which is a sign of an intelligent, compassionate referee seeking to improve and pursue viable options. But as in most opinions on a fact of play it will be your match, your decision, your reputation!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

David the answer you seek lies in Law 5. You are given the power to stop play should the injury be serious in nature, in fact you are obligated to stop things if you consider an injury serious in nature. On the other hand you may allow play to continue if the injury is not serious. This allows you huge latitude in making a decision.

Most referees are not going to allow play to continue when a player is down and not moving or when a player has sustained some manner of head injury. Some do but in my opinion they shouldn't. Another case is when a player sustains injury because he has chosen to wear shiguards that only provide adequate protection for a distance of four inches. That player can lie there and cry until he dehydrates as far as I'm concerned. Yup, you read that right. The Laws are written in a manner left to interpretation with regard to what is adequate protection. Players choosing to adequately protect themselves a bit are more likely to suffer a knock than those choosing to adequately protect themselves a lot.

Then there is the player who thinks he can get a stoppage from the referee be feigning serious injury. This is the person who, if he does get the stoppage, is unsporting and who will be given more than adequate time to recover from his serious injury off the field.

Your job requires a split second determination if the player is just bent or is broken, you're not a doctor so the decision is a difficult one. The decision becomes even more difficult to make when your situational awareness [SA] doesn't include that portion of the park where the, possibly, injured player happens to be.

Increasing SA is a matter that can be dealt with by looking around when there is little chance of foul play around the ball. Another way to help SA is to follow play and not follow the ball! All of us have been ball watchers at some point in our careers, usually the earliest days, and we usually figure out there is a lot going on away from the ball too. We train ourselves to absorb that information and respond to it. It is a challenge to do that but those of us who have looked away figure out much more is learned than is missed by looking away from the ball for an instant.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Debbie Hoelscher

Serious injuries usually become apparent immediately. For instance, two players go up to head the ball and head each other instead. If one comes down in a limp crumple, you have a serious injury and must stop play immediately (you will probably have never turned to follow play...that is how quickly you would be blowing your whistle) and assess the injured player and have that player removed from the field of play.

This is also where a complete pregame conference with your teammates is necessary. You can discuss how you want to be notified that there is an injury that needs your immediate attention. This is where your ARs need to work together too. If the trail AR sees that there is a problem and puts their flag up, it's at your back -- you can't see it. But if your lead AR is paying attention, they will see the other ARs flag up and mirror that flag to get the referee to stop play. Of course, if you're in the World Cup, you just push the communicator button and get Scotty to beam you or the injured player the heck outta there.....