Question Number: 27546

Law 5 - The Referee 6/23/2013

RE: Rec, Competitive Under 17

Matthew Running of Orangevale, California USA asks...

I am in the process of becoming a Referee, and I was reading some example situations online. I came across one where a player received a pass while in the offsides position, but the play was not blown dead by the center because he did not check with his AR. The AR had signaled for offsides. The player with the ball was now one on one with the keeper, and was inside the penalty area. The keeper came out of the goal and challenged the attacker, so the attacker kicked the ball far to the right, hoping to go around the keeper and score. As he does this, the keeper grabs the players feet and rips him to the floor, which would be denying by Free Kick. The center blows his whistle and signals for a penalty kick, and sends off the keeper. The defending team is going crazy pointing to the AR who still has his flag up. The center talks to the AR and they determine that the player was in the offsides position when he recieved the ball, and the center takes back the penalty kick and awards an IFK for the offsides. However, he does not take back the red card, since under this situation the ball was out of play and it would still be considered misconduct, worthy of a red card. Was the center referee correct in taking back the PK and awarding an IFK, even though he did not stop play?

I'm wondering this because the laws of the game say a ball is in play unless it goes out or the ref stops play. But since the ref technically didnt stop play, would the ball be in play, even though the AR signaled offsides?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Matthew
The correct decision here is to disallow the goal and restart with an IDFK for offside.
The goalkeeper cannot be dismissed for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity as none existed due to the offside call.
Now in respect of the 'foul contact' by the goalkeeper the referee has to decide if it in its own right excessive force was used endangering the safety of an opponent in which case the goalkeeper should not be sent off. If the referee deemed that it was reckless the goalkeeper could still be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and warned about his conduct.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the referee accepts the AR's flag, even accepting it late, then offside has happened and play was considered stopped at the time of the offside. There can't be a foul because the ball was not in play. And there can't be a denial of a goal, because there was nothing to deny. So the action by the keeper can only be misconduct. It could still be a red card if it was committed with excessive force - and upending the opponent sounds pretty forceful.

There has been some discussion online lately about a late 'foul' which isn't a foul at all, because play was supposed to have been stopped. It can't be a foul because the ball is not in play, even though everyone but the AR thought it was. So technically it can't be serious foul play; it must be violent conduct. What gets written in the report only makes a difference in what sanctions the league applies - some treat VC more harshly than SFP. One online post made a good argument that the league should see it as SFP because everyone thought the ball was still in play.