Question Number: 29607

League Specific 8/15/2015

RE: Amateur Adult

Pete of Nottingham , England asks...

This game was PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY, 5 mins to go my team's striker is though on goal. The keeper comes out of this area. The striker tries to lob him, the keeper handles it and the ball goes wide. The assistant ref and ref sees it and brings play back and a gives a free kick. All good so far.

He then shows the keeper a red card but allows the team to keep 11 players on the pitch 'because it was a friendly'.

Is this allowed?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi PETER,
allowed? Well it was allowed,so I guess there is the answer. Of course in regulation league play such a set aside of the LOTG are not likely to go over well. But in this case who complains? What repercussions? Who is keeping track or score ?Yes the keeper was to be sent off and his team reduced but as in charity matches and in matches where the result really does not matter? If it was more to train, have fun or raise funds for the local hospital? I have refereed friendly matches and in cases of a blatant send off we simply replaced the player or had them sit for 5 or ten minutes. We often had unlimited subs as well. Not strictly by the LOTG but it was to finish the match in away that made sense to those playing it! As referee we usually donated our fees to whatever cause was being played for.


Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Pete
Clearly under the Laws of the Game it is not allowed. The player has committed a sending off offence and as a result his team plays short for the rest of the game.
Now when we get to unsanctioned *friendly* games many times they are not played fully in accordance with the LotG. I can think of a number of Laws that might not be adhered to which include roll on - roll off substitutions, equipment infringements, match duration such as three thirds / four quarters, sin bins etc. Those are not allowed in sanctioned games and are as much illegal as ignoring parts of Law 12.
On the day the referee made a decision and as the opponents had no problem with that the game was finished out. The disruption of changing GK equipment, finding a player to go into goal etc was hassle that the teams did not want or need. Can you see it happening in a competitive League game with points at stake?