Question Number: 27508

Law 5 - The Referee 6/6/2013

RE: Rec Under 18

Mike of Mumbai, Maharashtra India asks...

Okay, so Im a football fan, and I had to ask this doubt. I was playing a 6v6 match at a local ground. And the defender from my team (Lets say team A) clearly fouled the opposing team B striker (Pulled him to the ground). But the goalie was disoriented, an open goal loomed, and another striker from team B had to just tap it in. So the ref played advantage, and within 2 seconds, the ball somehow rebounded off the post, and we got it clear.

The ref played on, but I had my doubts, despite the decision being given my way. Was that a penalty? The ref let B take advantage, and they missed. But it was within 2 seconds.

Should he have called it back for a penalty?

Let me know :)

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
Small sided games usually have their own rules such as FIFA's Futsal Laws of the Game. Also in the small sided game these unique rules make it unlike the regular game so what may be decided there may not apply in a regular 11 v 11 game. The speed of the small sided game reduces the number of seconds in which to bring play back on an advantage as play can have moved on significantly perhaps to the other end of the field of play.
For instance in Futsal the Laws states on advantage '' The decision to penalise the original offence must be taken within a few seconds, but it is not possible to go back if the corresponding signal has not previously been given or a new passage of play has been allowed. '' So the new striker's play of the ball could be deemed to be a new passage of play so it is play on.
Now in the regular 11 v 11 game the referee could deem that either advantage has been realised by the fact that the 2nd striker had ample opportunity to score and that the advantage was squandered by a player error. The referee could also determine that the foul impacted on the subsequent play and that advantage did not materialise so he can bring play back to the original foul and award a penalty. An example could be that the movement of the ball after the foul made it very difficult for the 2nd striker to score say from an acute angle in which case a penalty would be justified. If it was a simple tap in with advantage realised and the player messed it up then the referee would be entitled to play on.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your question.
This is an area of law that a lot of people misunderstand, so I'm glad you asked.
As you know, if the advantage doesn't take place the referee does have the option to go back to the foul - but the purpose of this is not to give the attacking team 2 bites at the cherry. Instead, it's simply to make sure they're not disadvantaged by the referee calling a bad advantage.

Basically, if the referee applies advantage and the attacking team just muck it up for no real reason, then it's tough luck. That's what it sounds like here.

If the referee is looking to apply advantage but the advantage doesn't materialise (say, there are defenders around and he's waiting to see if the attacking team manages to get a pass off, even though they probably can't), then he would go back to the foul.

There are other things the referee can take into consideration - whether the foul has put the ball from a good angle into a really difficult angle, if it was difficult to control, or even if the foul has allowed the defence to get into a better position.

A shot doesn't necessarily mean there was advantage, though if the attack has a good chance at goal and no real reason to muck the shot up, but they do anyway, then it sounds like the referee has made the correct decision.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Here in the US we are taught that advantage for a foul inside the penalty area essentially means a ball in the net. That's because a high percentage PK's are converted, so to allow play to continue the team must have at least as good a chance for a goal as a PK would be.

It appears from your description that the very good chance was there - all the player had to do was tap it in. So the referee was correct to allow advantage. We really hate to blow the whistle too soon, only to see the ball squirt into the goal just after the whistle tone stops - and we can't count the goal.

The advantage materialized when the player was able to shoot on goal. But then the player squandered the advantage he had by hitting the ball off the post. It doesn't sound like the miss was connected in any way to the original foul. If it were - say the player didn't have that good of a shot because he was off balance - then we would go back to the foul and the PK. But if the player just muffed it - well, life's tough sometimes.