Question Number: 12698

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 5/1/2006

RE: Soon to be a ref... Under 16

Oliver of Montreal, Quebec Canada asks...

If a referee signals a goal before the ball has passed wholly over the goal line and immediately realizes his error, what action should he take?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Oliver,
you mean action aside from a verbal ooops and avoiding the desire to stab one's self in the eye??
A signal for a goal we often simply point to the centre circle. If the situation is not obvious as in the ball bulging the back of the twine we signal with an AR flag/ and or a CR whistle that the ball crossed over the Goalline. Provided there were no infringements by the attacking team if the ball goes in under the crossbar and between the posts which in law suggests a goal as opposed to a goal kick (ball last touched by attacker) or corner kick (ball last touched by defender) both cross the goalline OUTSIDE of the posts or over the crossbar.

If the signal to stop play was a whistle and it was too quick in that the ball had not YET crossed the goalline or in fact NEVER crossed the goalline the referee has made a latrine hole for themselves and the drop ball restart for an inadvertant whistle at the edge of the 6 yard goal area seems quite likely depending of course on the ball's location at the stoppage. Once a referee signals play to stop he can not say ooops I made a mistake , keep playing. He MUST restart the match. If it was an accidental stoppage it is a dropball for an inadvertant whistle.

I have seen balls headed into the goal with referee blowing whistles just before these balls enter the goal. In almost all cases that goal is called off, a few times the goal was allowed, technically not correct but there was no real fallout other than a note on the assessors pad of a major error of biblical proportions. The reasoning used by the referee may have satisfied the teams playing via some vauge notion of law 18 and possibly the timing between the sound of the whistle and the ball crossing the line maybe so close no one need pick up on it!

People often say law 18 ,the ball would have gone in, or it did go in, or no opponent was disadvantaged or the referee MADE a mistake why should we suffer? You can get around that at fun play but in competition it is NOT generally a viable alternative unless there is a millisecond in the difference where you can SELL the call .
I have seen it at the Highest level of play here in Canada. If I recall the Vancouver Whitecaps were scored upon and there was some fussing about before a goal was awarded as the referee DID not wait to see if the advantage would lead to the goal WHICH it did! By blowing the whistle as the ball was deliberately handled by a defender as the whistle was sounding the ball then deflected onto the leg of another player and into the goal. The CR walked quickly over to the AR as the 22 players, substitutes, fans , coaches all waited to see what was to follow? The CR said, "I SHOULD have ate my whistle! I need some time to think, so pretend we are kibitzing. I will take the heat here do not worry" By rights the correct call was a PK red card yet the referee sold a yellow card and goal as the final outcome
The team happy with the goal did not protest and the opposing team happy not to have a key player off for the next important match also did not complain.

I have seen inadvertant whistles with no serious consequences, an offside called by mistake, the keeper had the ball in his hands. The referee said go ahead and punt it out I would only drop it for you anyway. While not technically correct no one playing thought it unfair. A referee can occassionally get away with fudging the law but it is NOT correct and not recommended as it sets up protestable situations and needless controversy.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

He should disappear within himself... What is he blowing his whistle for? Unless the ball has completely crossed the goal line and returned to play there is no need to blow the whistle, everyone knows a goal is scored.

He must, by Law restart play with a dropped ball where it was when play stopped, subject to the special circumstances of Law 8. That's the school book solution.

What he can pull out of his backside is something else again. Sure he can sell a goal -- right up till the team scored upon figures out play had been whistled stopped. The only thing he can really do is learn from his mistake, hopefully he'll survive the experience.

Regards,

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