Question Number: 25291

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

RE: Comp Under 12

John of Hayward, CA USA asks...

Hello Ref,

I was the center for U11 Division 1 competitive tournament.

The ball is in the goal area staionary at the two meter line. Attacker lets up on her attack to avoid collision. Goalie, on the ground, clumsily but not recklessly, rolls into attacker while rolling to get the ball, injurying attacker. I don't call a foul but blow the whistle for the injury.

Restart: Drop ball. I ask the attacker to be a good sport and go to the 18 so I can give the defense (a fullback) a courtesy toss. The attacker goes to the 18. I don't ask for a sportsman kick from the attacker. I stand on the 6 and tell the defender it is a drop ball. The defender, at the 12, doesn't react to the ball and it takes an odd bounce. The attacker charges forward and kicks a goal.

I speak to the very experienced AR, who agrees that technically it was a legal goal. He says he won't give an opinion on if I should redrop it. I let the goal stand. To the crowd it could have looked like I bounced it to the attacker, but that was the ball's fate, not my choice. I did toss it to the attacker instead of just dropping it straight down, and I won't make that mistake again. Because it was intentionally not a drop straight down, I've received a lot of harsh criticism, perhaps deserved, but considering the total circumstances, I don't think my error should have disallowed the goal.

The lynch mob erupts. The field marshall, from the far side of the field, tells me that I should have disallowed the goal. The players are totally calm and I quickly restart play at the center circle. After the game, a protest is launched. The game ends in a tie.

Should have I disallowed the goal and redropped the ball to ensure that the goalie grabbed it? I suppose if the goalie missed my drop and it bounced into the goal from the 6, it would be a legal goal?

Thank you.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi John. Now, what have you learned from this? When referees interject what they think is Fair Play into a live game, sooner or later something like this will happen. I've dropped the ball many many times to the keeper and gotten away with it. Sooner or later it will catch up to me.

Here's what you did wrong. Once you decide to do the courtesy drop, you have to make absolutely certain the player you are dropping the ball to understands what they are supposed to do. You should have dropped it to the keeper and when she picks it up ask her to wait until you tell her to punt it so the opponents can get back. By the way, what are the two meter line and the 12?

Why was the defender 6 yards away from where you were supposed to drop the ball? If you want to drop it to a single defender who is not the keeper, that player should be right with you and the ball. When you have 10 year old kids spread all over the field, something like what happened is almost a certainty. The attacker was certainly within her rights to kick the ball into the net. The ball was in play once it hit the ground and anyone is free to play it at that point.

However, you had an easy way out of this mess. You did NOT execute the drop properly. You are not supposed to toss the ball. You are required by Law 8 to drop the ball. You didn't drop it so a retake was in order. Your experienced AR should have told you this.

Your reason for disobeying the Law was a good one. You wanted to inject fairness into the restart. But you were lucky you made a procedural error that would have given you a way to extricate yourself from this mess. Had you performed the drop correctly and the wrong outcome happened, there is no way in Law that you could have called off the goal.

I'm not going to pile any more criticism on you but never ever toss or throw the ball on a drop. It's called a dropped ball for a reason. When in the penalty area and you decide to interject your concept of Fair Play, ALWAYS drop the ball to the keeper. And DROP the ball. Had you tossed the ball to the keeper and had she missed it and the ball went into the net untouched by any player, it's a retake as the ball has to touch a player before leaving the field of play so it would have to be a retake whether the ball was properly dropped or not.

Since you clearly misapplied Law 8, a protest should stand and it's likely the entire game will be replayed if the tournament allows protests. Most do not.

I'm very curious to know why you think your admitted error should not result in disallowing the goal

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If you are going to try to instruct players - and that sometimes is part of the referee's job in the younger age recreational leagues - then you have to explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. 'Hey Green, we stopped play to take care of your player who was injured when the goalkeeper had the ball. The fair thing would be to let them have the ball back again, right?' Then call the keeper over to where the ball will be dropped, and tell her that she can pick it up after it touches the ground.

But this was a competitive game. You probably should have stayed out of it. Chances are the coach or trainer is being paid a whole lot more than you are, and he takes his job seriously and doesn't want you doing it. If you can quickly drop the ball to the goalkeeper without making a fuss over it, then do so. But don't try to direct play. It will come back to bite you, sooner or later, harder or softer.

Generally you would be correct to allow the goal, once your attempt at fair play fell apart. There is nothing you could do to invalidate the goal. The ball was live, the defender didn't play it and the attacker took advantage of that lapse. If the teams wanted to sort it out, the team that just scored could have allowed the opponents to score right after the kickoff. But, in this particular case you compounded things by not conducting the dropped ball correctly - you tossed it across the field rather than dropping it down. Because of that, you should retake the dropped ball correctly.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
In my opinion there are two answers here.
1. Assuming the ball was correctly dropped, in the correct place then the ball is in play when it touches the ground. Whatever happens after that has to be accepted. That is the technical answer.
2. Now when the referee interjects to 'create' a situation that is where the problems arise between the technical and practical. It is vital that every player understands what is about to happen. At U12 many do not understand Fair Play restarts and they probably need additional guidance. In this case the defender probably was not aware of what to do while the forward certainly was. In open play a defender would not allow a forward to run unchallenged on to a ball in the penalty area so why should it happen on a DB 'arranged' by the referee and therein lies the dilemma
What are the learning points here
1. Fair Play restarts inside the penalty area can create real problems and need to be managed very carefully. At underage all the participants needs to be advised as to what to do. My preference is to drop the ball to the GK so that he takes the ball into his hand immediately. I then move away.
2. The ball should be dropped at the player's feet not tossed.
3. More experienced AR's should 'advise' less experienced CRs when they seek advice and they should advise on the 'best' way to handle this based on previous experiences.