Question Number: 27451

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 5/20/2013

RE: high school Adult

dean sibenaller of Carroll, ia usa asks...

can there be adrop ball in box if two players battle for ball and the goes off both feet and referee says both players had advantage

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dean
Not sure what you mean here.
If your question refers to reasons for a dropped ball, one is where offences are committed by players from different teams at the same time. If that happens the referee can stop play and restart it with a dropped ball from the position of the ball at the time of the stoppage.
On a dropped ball there is no difficulty with players contesting for possession. Once the ball touches the ground it is in play

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

I think your question is whether a dropped ball is appropriate (rather than a throw-in) when the ball goes off both feet.

High school rules provide for this result. But, in my area, we teach high school referees to reject the premise. The ball never goes off two opponents at the same moment - it touched one last. The referee should decide which one. (My approach is that it always touched the attacker until I am 100% certain that it last touched the defender.) YMMV