Question Number: 26499

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 6/26/2012

RE: Rec Under 15

Roland Kelly of Menlo Park, CA USA asks...

Hello,
During the Italy/England Euro Game on 6/24/12 I noticed a new format of Dropped Ball procedure. After a stoppage, the referee dropped the ball straight to Player A's feet who then gently kicked it straight at Player B's feet and then play continued. (Happened several times, alternating between teams).. Is this a special DB protocol for this level of football ?

Thanks in advance for all your advice.

Roland Kelly (Ex. Dublin, Ireland)
Silicon Valley, USA

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

There were several examples of a sporting return. Players recognize when play is stopped for an injury, that good sports return the ball to the team that was in possession when play was stopped.

Law 8 requires only that the ball is dropped and touched the ground. The laws do not (and the referee cannot force) a player return it.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Roland
What you describe is a Fair Play dropped ball restart. What happened in the game is that there were players down injured and the referee was asked to stop the game to deal with those situations. On the restarts the team whose player was down injured sportingly kicked the ball back to the opponents at the dropped ball restart.
Law 8 only requires that the ball is dropped and that it is in play when it touches the ground. So there is no requirement to contest for the ball nor is there a minimum or maximum number of players that can contest for the ball.
In these situation the team would have indicated to the referee that they intend to kick the ball back which is up to the teams not the referee.