Question Number: 25300

Law 7 - Match Duration 8/11/2011

RE: Play off High School

Lionel Heinold of Ephrata, WA USA asks...

Can a match end on a defensive foul, if it is not in the penalty area?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Yes it can end on a foul without taking the kick. The game is extended only for a penalty kick:

In a game played under the Laws of the Game, the referee is the sole keeper of time. When all time is up, included any added time to compensate for wastage, the ref should blow his whistle to end the game. The ball does not have to be in play for this to happen. If time expires when there is a penalty kick to be taken, the game is extended only to take that kick. There will be no play after the kick, no rebounds etc.

In a game with standard high school (NFHS) rules, time is kept on the stadium clock*. The clock is stopped for a penalty kick or misconduct, but not for a foul. When the clock hits zero, the game is over, period.

While it may seem unfair that the attacking team does not get to take their free kick, it would be equally unfair to make the defending team defend against a kick when time has expired.

* - Under some incarnations of the NFHS rules, which can be modified by the state HS association, the referee is given timing authority. This might be because there is no stadium clock or no scorekeeper to run it. Other modifications have the clock shut off at 2:00 minutes, with the referee keeping the time and deciding the end of the half from that point on.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

High school rules have a different notion of time than under TLOG. For high school, the clock is fixed (and usually public). The clock is running, except when the referee signals to stop the clock. Stopping the clock is mandatory for certain events (cautions, penalty kicks, goals). The referee has discretion to stop the clock for other reasons, but this discretion generally should be used to deal with unusual events that would cause a referee under TLOG the add time (e.g., injuries, excessive substitutions, outside agents, etc). By contrast, under TLOG, time is more general and elastic. The match ends when the referee determines that time (and added time) has expired.

Ordinary fouls usually should not cause the high school referee to stop the clock, even in the waning seconds of the match. If the referee believes that the team in the lead is using a tactical foul to prevent an attack before the match ends or is engaged in misconduct to delay the restart, however, the referee always has the option to caution the player (which stops the clock and forces a substitution for the cautioned player). The power to stop the clock is enables the referee to do justice, but IMO justice is more than simply giving more time to the team that needs it. In high school, time is limited.

NFHS rules are recommendations, and each state may modify them.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Lionel
In FIFA/USSF games play can end at any time except on the award of a penalty kick. So the referee can end play on a defensive free kick
Under NFHS rules my colleagues have outlined the method of timing and ending play