Question Number: 20880

Law 13 - Free Kicks 2/21/2009

RE: Rec Under 10

James of Merced, CA United States asks...

I was watching a U10 girls rec all-star game this past weekend. A girl from the Blue team was tripped by a player from the Red team deep in the Red team's half. The referee made the proper call and indicated a direct free kick for the Blue team. The coach for the Red team was repeatedly asking the referee if it was a Red kick. The Red team lined up and took a quick kick and the referee continued with play.

After the ball had made it's way back into the Blue team's half and much yelling from the Blue sideline, the referee stopped play and looked back at her AR who was indicating that it should be a Blue kick. She brought the ball back to the original spot of the foul and proceeded with Blue now taking the kick. Was this a proper decision or is it incorrect because she didn't change her mind before the restart of play?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

What exactly is a U-10 rec all star game? It sounds like a terrible idea to me.

If the red team restarted the game quickly but they weren't the team entitled to take the kick in the first place, then it is no problem for the ref to call them back to get that right. Otherwise you'd see teams all over the world trying to 'steal' the restart. At older age levels, this sort of action by Red would result in a caution for delaying the restart.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

The restart was incorrect if it was NOT what play had been stopped for. Perhaps the referee mistakenly thought it was an offside first then the trip? Who knows? A referee stops and restarts play at his discretion. If he was aware of the circumstances it is hard to undo a restart that he commits to, but circumstances if caught quickly can make this a do over. Kind of like a throw in to blue , but AR forgets signals reds direction, referee says, Red throw just as AR goes oops it is a blue throw and reverses flag direction! Alert red player already grabbed the ball and took the throw-in. A communication mix-up if caught quickly can be undone

If red took the kick to delay the restart it could be considered USB . I think here the referee has dug a hole the AR allowed it to get deeper!
The referee had a mind cramp!
The AR failed in the 2nd most important job assigned, DO NOT LET THE REFEREE SCREW UP! The AR could have used the flag to poke the referee awake and screamed WAIT REF and stopped red from taking that free kick.


Go back, do it over, do it right as long as too much time and no other restart had occurred in the mean time. Blue DFK and pay attention!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The restart was incorrect so it may be corrected. Unfortunately, you probably had a very inexperienced referee given the age group and the Red coach probably knew he could confuse her by this tactic. Sad to see this kind of behavior at U10.