Question Number: 20781

Law 6 - Assistant Referee 1/31/2009

RE: Competitive Adult

Les Sicherman of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada asks...

If the ball runs out of play towards the AR, is he at all costs avoid stopping the ball, or can he stop the ball as long as his action doesn't provide an unfair advantage to one team. There is always the temptation to stop the ball in order to speed up play.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I understand the temptation but once the AR stops a ball (of course, AFTER it has gone out of play) he better stop EVERY ball from that moment on. Some of this, of course, depends on the age and skill level of the players. If I'm the AR on a U12 rec game, I'll probably stop the ball after it goes out. If I'm the AR on a U19 Classic, I'm getting out of the way and let the players go get the ball. In no case should you chase after a ball that's gone out of play. No matter what you do after you do that, someone is going to be displeased.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

When the AR chases down a ball, he's no longer looking for potential trouble-making. The ball never commits misconduct; players do. I make this point with the newbie AR's I have in U12 rec games. 'Sure, these kids aren't going to do anything, but the kids in your select league games - you gotta watch 'em!'

If the ball is headed directly to you, there's no reason to jump away from it to keep it from hitting you (unless it's one of those screamer kicks you don't want to be in front of at all costs). I've actually caught a chest-high ball, which temporarily hampered my flagging technique; I had to drop the ball at my feet and then raise the flag. But neither do you go more than a half-step out of the way to block the ball. It's part of being fair but still courteous to your players. You don't want to do anything to make yourself look more accomodating to one team than the other.

Whatever you do, don't stop the ball from going out of play!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I look at chasing or stopping the ball this way, I'm way much older than the players. They can go fetch instead of me wearing myself out. Besides why set myself up for abuse if I mishandle the ball?

Bottom line, if my bald spot is bigger than yours I ain't gonna fetch unless the ball hits me before I can get my old bones out of the way.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

The word neutral is key here, although to be fair the retrieval of a single ball when so many matches now have ball boy retrieval and surplus game balls it is easy to feel pressure to not waste time by making an effort to restart quickly. Not sure if at ALL COSTS is necessary, on a ball hit right to or at you, is there really a need to avoid it and let it go down the embankment into the nearby pond or bushes? That said, it is not an AR's job to fetch the ball as it would interfere with the duties already assigned. If the restart could be advantageous to the one team because you interfered then hold on to the ball to rectify such an imbalance.
Cheers.