Question Number: 24567

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 2/7/2011

RE: AYSO ALLSTARS Under 13

Tony of Tulare, CA USA asks...

I was an AR for a pool play game at a U12 Boys AYSO Allstar Tournament this past weekend. In the fouth quarter of a 3-1 blue team winning game, a player from the red team gets a cramp/ calf injury off the ball on the blue side of the field and goes down. The Center ref lets play continue for a few seconds because there was no stoppage in play, and then blows the whistle to stop play and attend to the injured player. Blue team had possesion at whistle. The red player is ok and gets up and will continue. Center ref clearly and loudly tells Blue Team defender the restart will be a IDK for blue team and instrucks him to kick the ball towards Red defense in a sportsmanlike manner.

Blue defender does as instructed, but apparently his teammate up front did not. Blue forward intercepts the pass back, takes off towards goal, red goalkeeper charges. Blue forward fakes keeper and scores a goal, all this while both sidelines are shouting for him to stop, obviously understanding the sportsmanlike gesture.

I as an AR did nothing, not my call at this point. Correct ??

Center ref allows goal. And explains to Red coach that he cannot control the players actions nor stop the play, and that the Blue coach should have instructed his player to not make a play on the ball.
Was he correct in doing this ??

Albeit in this situation, it was 3-1 already and this was not a game changer, but the principle of the lack of sportsmanship or understanding of it was the root of this problem. For future knowledge,,How should this situation be handled??

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The ref, having stopped play to attend to an injured player, allowed that player to remain on the field. He should have been asked to leave the field until play was restarted. Most youth leagues would allow a substitution at this point, but I'm not sure whether that would apply in an AYSO game being played in quarters.

I'm not sure why he started with an indirect free kick. That's a high school rule, not AYSO. Unless your local league has modified the Laws beyond what is allowed.

Next, if the ref is going to award an IFK because Blue was in possession, why would he instruct them to give up possession?

The correct aspect of this is that once Blue decides to try to score, there is nothing the ref and AR can do about it.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tony
Poor mechanics here by the referee and some confusion on the restart. First off I'm not sure why it was an IDFK restart. The correct restart should have been a dropped ball not an IDFK which is NFHS rule.
Secondly the referee should not be getting involved in instructions on Fair Play. He simply stops play and then lets the teams get on with it. If the team suggests though that it is going to kick the ball back and that team clearly indicates that it intends to act in a sporting fashion then technically there is nothing in law that the ref can do if it goes wrong. This happened a number of years ago in the FA Cup on a match winning goal. The winning team Arsenal eventually offered its opponents Sheffield United a replay as a gesture of Fair play.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/ars-ne-wenger-offers-fa-cup-rematch
In some other games I have seen the opponents allowing an uncontested goal from the kick off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPk-wmqP5ec&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELkZF2OYhiY&feature=related

Could these situation be avoided. IMO Yes with the application of some common sense and play being stopped. The ref can simply say that everyone was not ready and that the game needs to be restarted which I doubt would be challenged.
In some situations he could also interpret that if the player verbally told him and an opponent that he was going to kick the ball back on a DB and then clearly 'cheated' on that he could stop play, caution the player for verbal deception at a restart and restart with an IDFK.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

First, the restart should have been a dropped ball. The referee apparently was applying a high school rule. As an AR, you would have served the team by getting the referee's attention before the restart and reminding the referee that a dropped ball is required - - the referee team has a responsibility to get the restart correct!

Second, the referee cannot direct a 'sporting' return of the ball. The referee can inform, persuade, and encourage. But, the referee cannot enforce. If a team fails to kick the ball back to the opposing team who was in possession when play was stopped (or as often is the case, one player didn't get the word), the referee cannot disallow the goal.

Frankly, the blue coach had an opportunity to teach his players an extraordinary important lesson about character and fair play - - by instructing his team to allow Red to score unopposed at the kickoff. This too, however, is not something that the referee can direct.

I once stopped play in a situation like this well before the attacking player could take any shot. I wanted to check on the condition of the ball. I found that it wasn't 'round enough' and got a replacement. Restarted with a dropped ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This should have been handled by the referee awarding the correct restart in the first place: a dropped ball where the ball was when he stopped play for the injury unless the ball was inside a goal area.

Then he compounds his mistake by 'ordering' players to act in a manner that he deems fit, something he has no authority to do and something no referee should EVER do. And besides, he even got that wrong. What's sporting about taking the ball away from the team that had possession?

Play continues and when the players don't act as he has ordered he throws up his hands and says, well, I don't actually have any authority over the players and they can do as they like.


But Tony, you are a certified referee also. YOU should have known that the center referee had awarded an incorrect restart and when you saw what was unfolding raised your flag and prevent what happened.

But let's look at what happened. Your center referee clearly does not have a good handle on what he is allowed to do and is inconsistent. If he really thought he could order players to play in a certain manner, then he should have stopped play when they didn't. Both sidelines would have been ok with this. He also could wave off the goal if ANYBODY including the All Star coaches knew what the proper restart was. (BTW if there is a rule allowing an IDFK for the team with the ball after an injury in AYSO, I can't find it but apologize if there is)

So, we now have a goal that shouldn't have counted. I agree with Ref Wickham. To even things up, the Blue coach could have told his players to stand to the side at the kickoff and allow Red to score.

Bottom line is when referees exceed their authority and deviate from the LOTG, often the results are not good

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 24580