Question Number: 22584

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 11/24/2009

RE: Competive Under 13

Victor of Lodi, Ca USA asks...

Drop ball in a BU12 competitive game; black vs. white.

Before I dropped the ball, I clearly explain that the ball must touch the ground before its in play. I drop the ball and the player in white kicks the ball about 10 inches before it hits the ground. I stop play and explain in a slightly slower and louder tone to wait until the ball hits the ground before you touch it. Again the player in white kicks it well before it hits the ground. At this point my frustration leads me to say "OK white, lets get someone else in here". They do and we have a legal restart.

Because a ref cannot dictate who participates in a dropped ball, I think I made an error. It seems to me in this situation I have 3 choices; Keep dropping the ball until they get it right, "suggest" the team in white use another player, or call unsporting behavior on white and give black an IDFK. What do you think?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Technically you can't do what you did - but I think you made the 'common sense' option - and it was the young age that let you get away with it.

However, the problem with stepping outside of the bounds of your authority is what happens when things go wrong - what if that player refused, or the coach decided to yell at you?

However, I would like to query one thing - where in Law 12 does it say that Unsporting Behaviour is an IDFK?

It doesn't. It clearly lists the DFK and IDFK offences, and USB isn't one of them. USB is misconduct - and if you stop play for misconduct for something which isn't covered by the other DFK/IDFK offences, then play is restarted by an IDFK to the opposition, but you cannot just award an IDFK for misconduct; you need to have the caution as well.

Additionally, with the exception of the penalty kick you can never award a free kick for something that happens whilst the ball is out of play (and at a drop ball, the ball is out of play until it touches the ground). If you decide to take action against the player, it would be a caution for delaying the restart of play, and play shall still be resumed with a drop ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You may caution the player for unsporting behavior, show him the yellow card, but the restart is still a dropped ball as ball was out of play. I think I would suggest another player participate

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

One technique to 'help' players on a dropped ball is for the referee to hold the ball with one hand on top of the ball and one hand on the bottom of the ball. While you are saying the words 'wait for it to hit the ground' and while keeping your hand on top of the ball, remove the hand from the bottom of the ball. The ball will drop, but the top hand will affect when the players see it drop. (Moreover, the top hand will prevent the ball from being kicked into the referee's face).