Question Number: 18512

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 3/10/2008

RE: Rec Under 11

Mike Owens of Temple, TX USA asks...

Thanks for the website. I love the insight and the humor. In fact, I can thank (blame?) you all for inspring me to get my Grade 8 certification a couple of weeks ago. Of course, now I can't watch a soccer game without watching the referee instead of the ball....

My question: Regarding Law 8 and a dropped ball: Does it say anywhere in the Law or in any other advice documents that one player from each team must participate, ice hockey faceoff-style, in a dropped ball? The illustration in the law book implies this is so, but I don't think so....case in pint, this past week watching my son's U10 Rec game, the Green team was attacking, played a long ball ahead to a forward. Ref blew for offside, then realized that the Blue team had a "sweeper" picking at the grass near the goal area in addition to the keeper who was in the goal area. Thus, there were two Blue defenders closer to the goal line and the play was not offside. Ref realized his mistake, apologized for the inadvertent whistle, but then called a blue defender back into position from upfield (where he was caught out of position trying to chase down the forward) to take the dropped ball with the forward!

Seems to me the fair thing to the attacking team would have been to quickly drop the ball to the striker and let play continue as close to the game situation as possible.

Your advice, please!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Wow! Thanks Mike, your comments are so welcome. Thank You very much, Indeed! So sorry we are the cause for you to take up the cloth, or more properly the yellow shirt, and become a referee in the World's Game. We sincerely hope you have many more good matches that the ones you'd rather forget about.

Restarts involving a dropped ball. These are always used, as Law 8 states, when the referee stops things for something not covered elsewhere in the Laws, in other words for which there is no defined restart of play. Law 8 says the referee drops the ball where it was when he stopped all the huffing and puffing and running about either inadvertently or for a specific reason where there is no defined restart. The Law doesn't mention players it just says the referee drops the ball where it was when he stopped things.

Because you are new to the decision making process on the field you will [capital W] try to use a dropped ball quite a bit. We all did. Best thing I can say is don't use it as a crutch to get away from taking an unfavorable decision. In the situation described [or was it a shituation] the referee went a bit far in what he did. Recommended is fess up to the mistake and say I have to drop the ball. Then go to the point it was when you whistled and drop it. From there all the huffing and puffing and running about begins anew. Well, mostly -- U-littles won't have a clue what to do and just stand there with glazed looks. Then you say "The ball's in play". They go then.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Welcome, Mike! You're up in Dr. Korompai country - lucky man, you. A dropped ball requires no participants. A referee is charged with following the Law, and in doing so, upholding the Fair Play/Spirit of the Game doctrine. This means there are times when you will do a one-sided drop, for instance to a injured keeper who had possession of the ball when you whistled, or a two sided drop when it seems right. Or, you can just drop it and go - once upon a time, a long time ago, when I was a new ref, I saw the OS flag go up, reacted and blew. At that very moment, I saw the attacker was actually onside due to a lagging defender. I quickly - hardly anyone had stopped running yet - yelled "Drop Ball!" - dropped it and kept going - the teams never missed a beat. Whew! I did have a discussion with my AR after the game about when to go up with the flag, and with myself about whistling too quickly. Fair Play, my friend.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I'm glad someone appreciates our wry and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor. We're glad to be of service - and to have provided any impetus to you deciding to join our noble profession. There's always a need for referees, after all.

I once did a dropped ball to zero players. It was a U8 game, and as is their wont, the attention lagged. Once the boo-boo'd player was taken care of, I shouted, "OK guys, drop ball over here!" No one paid any attention. I finally just dropped the ball and yelled, "It's in play!"

And as my father-in-law told my wife when she got her music degree, "You know you'll never be able to just sit and listen to a concert again."

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

It is nice to inspire an individual to partake of the delights of officiating by constantly being second guessed by at least 50% of those watching at any given moment. Welcome our thick skinned friend!
The drop ball restart has no specificities on who or how many players only the SPOT of the restart (from where the ball was at the time of the stoppage subject to the special circumstances within the goal area covered in law 8) and WHY that restart could occur (when no other legal way in law is possible)
.
You see even at an inadvertent stoppage, fairness has little to do with it, one team likely benefits more than the other. After an injury or outside interference we needed a way of restarting other than a free kick The referee has the discretionary power to drop the ball in a manner he chooses best fitting the situation.. The difficulty is players from EITHER team are allowed to participate even if it might be prudent they did not. Players can choose to participate, players can choose not to participate, players can offer to return the ball as part of a sporting gesture, players must allow the ball to hit the ground after it is dropped by the referee and if that ball is dropped inside the penalty area the keeper is allowed to use his hands upon that ball contacting the ground. The referee can drop the ball with no players present, one player only, one player from each team or all 22 gathered around it really has no stipulation although following tradition it tends to be one from each team.

You see neither team want to be disadvantaged at the restart regardless of WHY play was stopped. If there is an offer to return the ball by one team generally it means kicking the ball way back into the defending third or way into deep touch thus returning possession but not in an area of the field where an attack will can be mounted. In some circumstances the referee can drop the ball solely to the keeper and the opposing team withdraws to allow this amicably.
This fair play standard is when the ball was in possession of one team but the stoppage favored the other by preventing an attack as in an injured player of the opposing team without the ball was the reason play was stopped. The one team could offer to return the ball or choose not to participate in the drop at all but that is their choice NOT the referees. Let?s say play was stopped for an injured blue player while red keeper had the ball in his possession. We can drop solely to the keeper and it is fine but if a blue opponent wanted to participate despite the circumstances where our sense of fair play dictates they should not we cannot prevent their participation. We certainly can REMIND of the circumstances of why play was stopped, your player was hurt but the red team had ball possession and traditionally most opponents will not do this. Note the red keeper can use his hands immediately upon the ball touching the ground possession is hands on ball, nothing says we have to ensure the blue player is ready and to kick the ball while it is within the keepers possession is a DFK out with a possible caution or even send off if excessive.
In the end though what goes around comes around and it is a dense player or coach who allows this situation to flourish.
Cheers