Question Number: 27626

Law 5 - The Referee 7/29/2013

RE: Rec Adult

Kev Harrington of Naas, Kildare Irel asks...

Cross comes in. Keeper catches it, upon landing breaks his ankle whilst screaming with pain. No opposition near . Keeper lets go of the ball and it rolls across the line.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the referee did not stop play for the injury, then the goal counts (assuming the ball rolled across the line between the goal posts).

However, the time that play stops is when the referee decides that play must be stopped. The whistle is a signal that the referee has stopped play. Actually the stoppage happened a moment or two before the whistle sounds.

So the wise referee will indicate that he had stopped play for the injury, but did not have a chance to signal that stoppage with the whistle before the ball rolled across the goal line. Thus the goal does not count. Play is restarted with a dropped ball on the 6-yard line, once the injured keeper has been attended to and a new one has entered the game.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Kev,

Play stops when the referee decides it has stopped. So if play has not yet stopped, then the goal stands.

Having said that, when play stops is not necessarily when the whistle is blown (generally it is, but say the referee intends to stop play at a certain point but drops the whistle...).

Dealing with keeper injuries can be tricky - naturally the referee does not want to continue the match with the keeper incapacitated, but we also don't want to be stopping the match as soon as the keeper goes down.

So it's a tricky situation for a referee, especially as a referee shouldn't 'change' a decision after seeing an injury, but I think determining that play was stopped before the ball crossed the line is appropriate.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kev
These can be tricky situations to call and each situation is different. If the ball was dropped by the goalkeeper over the goal line the moment he landed to injure his ankle then a goal has to be awarded. There is no foul and the referee has no time to act.
I recall a few season ago when I was an assistant in an important game, two players went up inside the penalty area, clashed heads, ball dropped and the ball was kicked into the goal instantly as it dropped by another attacker. Both players had bad head injuries and needed to be replaced. The goal though had to be awarded as play was not stopped and the referee did not have the opportunity to do so until after the goal. The conceding team was trying to make out that play should have been stopped for a head injury so the goal should have been disallowed. The fact was that it was with the ball crossing the line and that the ref acted as soon as he was aware of the injury.
I could envisage a situation where the goalkeeper goes down injured and then releases the ball deliberately from his grasp. A forward then runs in to take advantage of the situation. A referee can stop play the moment he is aware that it is a serious injury. In those situations though the referee has time to act.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS1LuSiRrLI
Here is an example of play continuing with a goalkeeper down 'injured'. I can envisage games where the referee would be berated for stopping play as most players continued with play.