Question Number: 19203

Law 7 - Match Duration 5/26/2008

RE: Premier league Competition Adult

ROY McCALLION of Gold coast, Queensland Australia asks...

Two senior sides are at 1 goal each in the first half. Twelve minutes before the first half is to finish. The floodlights fail on one side of the field. The grounds people from the home side frantically start to fix the lights & achieve the process in twelve minutes the lights are fully operational in twenty minutes. The referee & assistant officials rule that due to the break taken by players for the delay while light maintenance was performed. There would be a resumption for twelve minutes to finish the first half. Then no break would be taken & the teams would turn & play the second half of 45 minutes. Both teams were aware of the decision. During the twelve minutes to finish the second half, the home team scored making the score 2v1. The half finished the referee blew the whistle to turn around for the second half. However the visiting team decided that they were not going to participate in the second half & walked in protest due to no break being allowed between halves. The referee gave them seven minutes to retake their position on the field to no avail. They simply got dressed & left the ground. Please can you advise if the team should forfeit the game & the points be awarded to the home side who were winning at the time of abandonment, or should the game have to be replayed. Please can you give reference to the fifa rule if any, that answers this dilemma.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

First of all, the Law requires there be a break between halves - Law 7. The only adjustment may be the time allowed for the break, with the consent of the referee - it shall not be longer than 15 minutes, but may be as little as 1. The referee cannot refuse to allow the teams to take a break. This is protestable. The resumption of play to complete the first half was correctly done. What happens next depends entirely on the league's rules regarding play. Since the referee did not allow the half time break required by the Laws of the Game, the visiting team has a valid protest, which if upheld, will most likely result in the game being replayed - hopefully with a better informed referee crew. However, the league rules may cause a different result - as I noted, the outcome depends entirely on the league rules.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee may ask each side if they wish to change ends and get on with the match in lieu of having an interval between the two periods of play. If both sides [all players] agree to forgo the interval then it is a done deal.

Law 7 tells the referee that "Players are entitled to an interval at half-time." If ALL the players wish to give up their entitlement the referee is NOT entitled to demand they take a break [so he can have one]. If Baseplate McGurk is the only player out of the 22 who wants a break it's his right to have one and the referee will see to that right by having an interval not to exceed 15 minutes.

Not allowing the interval between the two periods of play is a misapplication of the Law and grounds for protest just the same as one side not returning to the field after the interval.

I tell new referees during qualification "If little Johnnie wants his fag after half-time then all players are going to get a break" Conversely, if the referee wants a fag after half-time and all players want to change ends and get on with the match then the referee is going to go without. Players are entitled to their interval, by Law.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Roy, if one or more demands a break at half time it MUST be granted. Furthermore, competition rules must state the duration of this period. In my experience this time was never less than 5 minutes and traditionally all amateur games are just that. So, one can surmise that a minimum of 5 minutes must be allotted for a break. It seems to me that the referee did end up giving them more than that. You ask questions about who wins etc. This is not the referee?s concern. All he has to do is report what happened. If I was the league, I would define the half time period. In this case I would rule against the team that left. But I am only a referee and I don?t have to worry about who won: just report what happened.