Question Number: 21607

Law 3 - Number of Players 6/30/2009

RE: Competitive Under 14

Nick Broderick of Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada asks...

I had the following incident occur at one of my games recently in a tournament (Under 14 Girls). I was the referee:

In the middle of the first half, one of the teams makes a substitution (4 players). I allow them to do their substitutions as I look over the players on the field of play to check that everything is fine, assuming my assistant is monitoring the substitutions. The ball comes into play and a few moments later I can hear spectators yelling that the team I just allowed to substitute have twelve players on the field. Because I was concentrating too much on the play and did not want to stop it, count players and then possibly find out that the spectators are wrong, I allowed play to continue; then I saw the same assistant raise his flag. I stopped play, and he confirmed that the were twelve players on the field for the team we allowed to substitute. I ordered that team to remove a player and, because I could not reasonably determine who the twelfth player was, or if it was even fair to caution that player even if I could, I did not give out any cautions. I restarted play with a dropped ball, believing, perhaps mistakenly, that because I did not issue any cautions that I could not restart with an IFK from the spot of the ball (the only other possible restart).

1. I know the blame for this falls mostly on my shoulders for not monitoring the substitution process myself, but are there specific instructions I could give to an assistant referee to help him/her be able to handle the situation on their own to allow me to focus on the field of play? I admit that a full pre-game discussion did not take place due to the fact that the tournament officials were urging us to get the games kicked off quickly. I think I barely got out a word out about the 2LD!

2. Looking at the LOTG, I think the restart was incorrect. Looking at the three sanctions in Law 3, I'm sure the first doesn't apply because we, as a team, made the error in allowing her (whoever she was) onto the field of play. The third seems to apply, but it commands that I caution the players involved, which I could not do. This is why I believed that the dropped ball restart was correct (for a situation not covered in Law). But every infringement of Law 3 seems to require an IFK restart (whenever play is stopped or Law 10 denies a kick-off restart). Was the restart correct?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

These situations commonly occur when we do not follow proper substitution techniques as outlined in the Laws. Did you ensure that the outgoing players had left the field (or nearly so) before you beckoned the new players on? Many areas, mine included, shortcut this procedure in the interests of 'saving time'. But it can lead to incidents like this, restarting with too many players on the field.

1. Yes it was a BRSU (basic referee screw up), with the compliance of the AR. Many local referee groups have a non-standard signal they commonly use for the AR to indicate when the substitution has been completed. For example, we hide the flag behind our back or leg, or grab the fabric portion of the flag with our hand, and only unfurl the flag again once the team has the proper number of players on the field. But a tournament setting with no time for pregames is not the place to start a new procedure if you don't already have an established one.

2. I believe the dropped ball could be used if your thinking was that you stopped play because you had incorrectly allowed it to start earlier with too many players on the field. Then the stoppage would have been for something not defined in the Laws - the Laws don't define a BRSU. However, there was an infraction of Law 3. Players and coaches also bear responsibility for having the correct number on the field, even if the referee screws up and allows too many. So the more correct restart would be an IFK. Another option if the incorrect substitution was caught soon enough, would be to stop play and go back to the (throw-in?) restart. "Oops, sorry guys, they weren't done subbing. My fault. Let's try again." Of course this would have to be done in a reasonably short time, a matter of seconds not minutes.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

I believe the correct restart was an indirect free kick. You stopped play because of the AR's flag, and the AR informed you that one team had more than eleven players of the field of play in violation of Law 3. When you acted on the AR's advice, the reason for the stoppage of play was a violation of Law 3. Law 3 now provides for indirect free kick opposing team where the ball was when play was stopped.

Had you stopped play in response to the shouts from the spectators or you realized you made an error in allowing play to restart, and not because of the AR's flag, I agree with Ref Voshol a dropped ball would have been the correct restart. I suspect you were thinking (correctly) that when play is stopped for a warning, but not to caution a player for misconduct, an indirect free kick is not available under Law 12. In this case, however, you stopped play because the AR's information that one team violated Law 3.

A whistle is required before the restart of play due to substitutions. I make it a practice never to whistle until I have made eye contact with both assistant referees. That might also have helped catch the mistake.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Both the LOTG and the Interpretations sections state that if play is stopped to deal with the 12th person and that person is a substitute illegally on the field of play, the restart is an IDFK from where the ball was when play was stopped. Since this 12th person was on the field due to referee screw up I don't think a caution is fair or warranted but still restart with an IDFK. Ref Voshol makes some great points as to mechanics but ultimately YOU are the one that must adhere to the substitution procedure in Law 3. Almost every time I've seen or heard of too many players on the field it's because the referee has allowed substitutes to enter the field before the corresponding player exits. This saves time but can create all kinds of bad things, some of which aren't covered in Law because you don't know which are players and which are substitutes. Also, if you follow proper substitution procedure and don't allow a sub on until you see a player off, you'll know that if you later find an extra player, it wasn't due to anything you did but probably something the coach did. (yes, I have had coaches sneak an extra player on although it's rare)