Question Number: 12389

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 3/18/2006

RE: Competitive Adult

Tresa McIlnay of seattle, WA USA asks...

Can the referee end the half during a dead ball situation such as a corner kick, before the ball is put back into play? This happened in our match today, and in all of the years that I have played (30 years now) I have never had the ref blow the whistle unless the ball was "moving" in the field of play.
Thank you

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

As per Law 5, the referee is the official timekeeper of the match. Play ends when he says it does which can be at anytime he decides. I often end a half or game after the ball has gone out of play as opposed to it moving

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Tresa,
OFFICIALLY time is over WHEN the referee has decided it is so.
Truthfully it is as unfair to ask a team which has defended the full 1&1/2 hours as it is to cut short the attacking team's chance if it had not.

Because a corner is a great attacking opportunity as opposed to a goal kick as an occasional opportunity many referees are reluctant to end play and will allow the kick. At referee's discretion we can make allowances for time lost due to a number of factors however at what point does it become redundant if we will allow 3 minutes of injury time.

At the defending clearance that causes the corner kick it was 2.59 just on the edge of the goal line and a foot from the flag where the attacker was trying to run out the clock anyway?. The ball is out and the attacking team makes no effort to quickly track it down simply takes the thirty seconds that can occur as players retrieve the ball and the players fall into their respective formations. I will end the match before the corner is taken.

Now let say is is 2.50 and the desperation clearance which forces the corner has an attacker rushing to get the ball they quickly set the ball and bang into the box ay 301 I likely will allow the kick to run its course as a ball into the box and if defenders head it out I stop play. If it becomes a shot on goal I wait that second to see if it stopped by the keeper or cleared or scored as the case maybe.

On such stoppages where it is a throw in or a free kick in the defending or middle areas , given things like the ball flight time or retrieval of the ball these are part of normal playing conditions. If time is about to expire just before the incident then we tag on another 20 to 30 seconds to restart time HAS expired and that is that!

Imagine time has nearly expired. You are about to bring the whistle up and blow to end the match. A defender fouls an attacker just outside the PA . There will be howls of protest, possible sanctions (showing cards) send off who knows maybe only a careless foul and a DFK . Time is now well over the match time past the time shown on your watch as what you were going to add.

As referee you can legally stop the match and end the game before the DFK restart the question is would you?

If it was a careless foul in the midst of regular play with lots of defenders back a lopsided score and bad weather I end play.

If though we had a breakaway, SFP(serious foul play or DOGSO (denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity) and the tempers of this match are burning brightly as well as a tie match.

Pressure to legally stop the play or find a way to get that DFK away?

If that foul was inside the PA as a PK we have no worries. TECHNICALLY ONLY a PK (penalty kick ) incident can legally have time extended to be taken.
Still as a ceremonial free kick as I will show a card, we have stopped play and could treat this as ADDITIONAL Injury time as long as the team that lost the opportunity is quickly into the set up. But is a fine line to make up time to honour a sense of fairness and still follow the laws of the game . We can wiggle, we can bend but we can not break the laws to FIT our ideas of righteousness.

Generally the ball is whistled dead as it is in play as the exact split second of time is rarely to the micro second and to be honest a referee need not MAKE a situation into something by not paying attention to the timing of the situation! Just ask the referees in world international play who are looking at the watch blowing for the end of a match as the ball is rolling over the goal line. Although correct in law they did themselves no favours! Cheers