Question Number: 24586

Law 6 - Assistant Referee 2/15/2011

RE: Other

Rob of Seattle, USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 24530

Could you please provide better clarification on the miscoduct that the AR should maintin his flag raised until seen by the Referee? I ask as the ATR states in Section 6.4 that the misconduct would only be allowed to be issued for SFP or VC, and not for something that is only cautionable such as UB or Dissent.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Rob
The intention behind maintaining the flag until seen by the referee is based on the principle that a serious offence has happened and it needs to be dealt with by the referee most likely with a sending off. It must also be maintained when the ball goes out of play.
These situations need to be discussed in the pre-match meeting and advice given as how to handle certain situations. What is suggested is that if play has already restarted a number of times then perhaps the flag should in fact be dropped after say an offside. On these situations play will have gone back over the half way line and maintaining the flag serves no real purpose. Also some referees will ask that ARs try to deal with mild dissent themselves. If it is offensive, insulting and abusive then clearly the flag should be raised, the referee informed of what happened. If the flag is unseen again my advice to ARs is to maintain it until it is seen as it is a sending off offence. If play has already restarted, the referee will still take disciplinary action but not penalise the offence with a free kick and it will be restarted with a dropped ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Re-read Advice 6.4. It says the referee, in pre-game, must go over exactly what HE considers to be serious enough for the AR to maintain his flag even if play stops and restarts. USSF suggests ANY form of violence INCLUDING Violent Conduct should be punished but doesn't limit the violence to VC. The referee may believe that a reckless tackle (an act of "violence") should be punished regardless and may instruct his ARs accordingly in his pregame.

But USSF allows the referee to decide ANYTHING he deems deserving of punishment to be punished be it language, USB, VC, etc. This is also found in 6.4:

USSF has indicated that this requirement should be discussed thoroughly in the pre-game and that the referee should clearly indicate what sorts of misconduct would qualify for this treatment.

This sentence gives the referee the discretion to treat ANY form of misconduct the way IFAB treats SFP and VC

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

A referee would be well advised to use the ability to go back and issue a card later only for the most serious of offenses, and this should be done only if the AR has followed pre-game instructions and held the flag as required.

If that is the case, the referee generally has no one to blame but him/herself, because it should be a habit to scan the field at EVERY stoppage to see if the ARs have info the referee needs.