Question Number: 25379

Law 7 - Match Duration 8/31/2011

RE: Competitive Under 10

Leah of Thornton, ON Canada asks...

Hi,
When the whistle is being blown to signal the end of the game, does a goal count if the ball is kicked before the whistle is blown but the ball does not enter the goal until after you have finished blowing the third whistle?
Thank you for your time,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The game is over the instant before the whistle is blown the first time. (there is no requirement we blow the whistle 3 times to end the game.)
The ball must have crossed over all the goal line in accordance with Law 10 BEFORE the game is over or no goal

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Leah
The game ends when the whistle sounds for the 1st time. So if the ball enters the goal after the sounding of the whistle it does not count.
My advice to any referee is not to blow the whistle to end the game when the ball is moving towards goal. Either end the game well before that or wait for the outcome. Players, team officials know that 'added time' timing in soccer is not an exact science and a few seconds can be found for lost time or indeed not taken into account as it is deemed part of play.
The most famous of those decisions was Clive Thomas' decision to disallow a goal in the 1978 Sweden V Brazil WC game where he blew for half time as the ball was kicked in from a corner kick. The ball entered the goal just after the whistle and it caused a huge furore when it was disallowed. He did not referee a FIFA WC game after that.
You can watch it here. If he was going to stop the game at 45.00 with no added time then he should have blown up before the CK at 45.00 not at 45.07.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0JFuWqwFg4
He did nothing technically wrong just the mechanics caused the problem for him.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

A wise referee will watch the ball and not the watch at the end of the match. The referee can avoid this issue by waiting to end play when the ball is not headed toward the goal.

But, the answer under the laws is that a goal cannot be allowed unless all of the ball was already past the goal line at the final whistle. 'In the air' is not enough.

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