Question Number: 6355

Law 5 - The Referee

RE: Recreation Under 11

Laura Davis of Rochester Hills, MI USA asks...

I have a question on "play on - advantage". I was taught that play on - advantage applied only when an offensive player is fouled but manages to continue and has an advantage by continuing. (As in a breakaway) In a game I was watching, a coach questioned a referee about why he didn't use the "play on - advantage" for a direct kick and then later for a hand ball. The situation was a player was in the offside postion, the ball was shot at the goalie, the player in the offside position turned and ran towards the goalie. The assistant referee raised the flag for offsite, the goalie caught the ball and before he could punt the ball back in play, the referee blew the whistle for offside. The coach believed that, since his team had clear possession of the ball and thus an advantage, the referee should have waived down the flag of the assistant and allowed play to continue. Should the referee have allowed play to continue? ..Later in the game, the ball was played by the offense towards the goal. The defense committed a clear hand ball, directing the ball away from the goal but the offensive player gathered the ball and broke for the goal. The referee stopped the play and gave a direct kick, but again the coach said the referee should have allowed play to continue since his team had a "breakaway" and lost its advantage...As a referee, I wish to know if I should make the call based on what I see, or if I should try to evaluate whether to allow play to continue if the non-offending team has a clear advantage.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Laura, play advantage when stopping play is doing what the side giving the foul wants. You may play advantage to keep a defender in posession and see what happens. Any time you see a possible positive result after a foul has failed to do as the opponent wanted you may play advantage. Play it seldom close the defending goal line about half half in the midfield more than not in the attacking third - in the penalty area a penalty kick is usually an advantage but don't take a goal by blowing too fast...Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Victor Matheson

On the offside, it probably wasn't a bad idea for the referee to blow the whistle. It's not that big an advantage for the goalkeeper to punt the ball rather than kick it from the ground, and the last thing you want is a player and the goalkeeper to collide when the player was offside in the first place. On the hand ball, it appears that the referee made a mistake. It would have been much better for the attacking team to have the breakaway than a simple free kick.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

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