Question Number: 28293

Law 5 - The Referee 3/31/2014

RE: Rec Under 9

John of Derby, United Kingdom asks...

Hi,

I refereed my first game yesterday. I was feeling really happy with myself until an incident in the last minute of the match. The ball came off an attacking player and looked to be clearly heading out for a goal kick. I called out, 'Goal Kick' - some of the players backed off from the situation. However the ball was spinning in the air, bounced on the line and then settled on it. I appreciate that it was my mistake to have called goal kick before the ball had actually gone off the field. I therefore then said, 'play on'. The attacking team scored and lots of people weren't happy. I know I should not have called the goal kick until the ball was definately out of play, since I did, was I then right to say play on when it didn't go out, or should I have enforced a goal kick? Thanks. PS didn't matter that much. The team that scored lost 4-1.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
Once you 'interfered' by calling out 'GOAL KICK' and the ball did not go out of play you should have stopped play, apologised for your hasty action and restarted with a dropped ball. As the ball did not go out of play your could not award a goal kick as that would be incorrect in Law. It is up to the teams to do whatever they want on the dropped ball such as contesting it, kicking it out of play or whatever.
It is covered under Law 5 which states that the referee '' stops, suspends or abandons the match because of outside interference of any kind''. Outside interference can be caused by the referee including an inadvertent whistle by mistake.
Lesson learned and it just part of learning the game.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Glad you enjoyed your first match - except at the end. Every referee makes mistakes and the one you did recently happened to a professional match. In that case, moreover, it also led to a goal. The video replay showed that the referee had signaled for the goal kick, and that this misled the defenders into thinking the ball was out of play.

The best thing to do when you make a mistake is to admit it. In this case, the first step is to blow the whistle. You already had stopped play when you signaled for the goal kick, so letting play continue is not a proper option. Explain to the players that you were mistaken that the ball had gone out of play. Then restart with a dropped ball.

It takes a bit of courage, but the players will respect you. Even if they don't show it in the moment.

Keep going, and have fun.