Question Number: 25578

Character, Attitude and Control 10/9/2011

RE: rec Adult

alex of richmond hill, ontario canada asks...

Two similar but different scenarios.
1. AR raises flag to indicate a foul. CR then saw the opportunity of applying the advantage rule, signal and shout 'advantage play on'.
2. AR raises flag for an offside. CR saw the ball reaches the goalkeeper with zero chance for the offside player to get to the ball, and shouted 'keep playing, goal keeper got the ball'

In both cases, the AR forgot to lower the flag immediately and kept the flag up. A number of players did the wrong thing of not playing by the whistle, and stop playing as the flag is still up. In the first case, attacking team stop playing and lost its advantage.

In the second case, the worst scenario happened as the keeper did played by the whistle and rolled the ball to his defender close to where the initial offside location and the defender stop the ball there in preparation for a free kick. Guess what? An alert player on the attacking team went in and get the ball.

The question is can (and should) the CR now blow the whistle and award the original offense after openly signaled 'play on'?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Alex
In 1 if advantage doesw not accrue immediately then the referee can go back to the original offence. However if through an error by the team with advantage loses it through an error on its own behlaf then play continues.
In 2 it is pretty clear to me that the referee has allowed play to continue. Players must play to the whistle so i would say play on. However I have seen these given by a referee who is alert to the situation.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Players must have heard 'Play to the whistle' several hundred times, yet they still stop for an AR's flag. Funny, that.

If both teams seem confused by the situation, it's probably best for the referee to go back for the foul or offside. But if only one team isn't paying attention, tough luck to them.

In both of the cases cited, the referee would have been correct to allow play to continue.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

One of the great aspects of advantage is that for a few seconds, the referee has the power to revoke the advantage and call the foul if the advantage is not realized. When the team that receives the benefit of the advantage doesn't take it (usually because of concern for an injury to a fouled player), simply whistle for the foul.

For offside, there is a different problem. It is not an offense for a player to be in offside position. If the referee waves down the flag because there was no infringement of the offside law, the referee ought not to call an infringement that never occurred. IMO, the referee has done well to shout that we are keeping play and that the keeper has the ball.

Defenders have learned since they were six that they must play to the whistle.