Question Number: 29745

League Specific 9/28/2015

RE: High School Under 18

kelvin Curry of louisville, ky usa asks...

game 1 game is played and a player gets a yellow card.
This came becomes under a Weather delay can not be finished

Reschedule game for 3 weeks later and will pickup game where left off.

Game is played and during the continuation that same player from 1st part of game gets another yellow card. So that's 2 yellows in same game but played at different times and refs and coach forget about 1st yellow 3 weeks ago.

What happens? Does the player still need to sit or since a red was never given the player is ok?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Kelvin, I can not say I have seen or heard of this occurring in my 40 plus years of officiating but if the committee in charge of enforcing the bylaws has agreed that their ROC (rules of competition) allowed the match to be concluded in such a fashion the caution from the 1st part of the match would in theory be in effect in the 2nd portion so to show the red and a send off should have occurred forcing them to play with 10 players. The FACT it was not has added a NEW and unfortunately uncomfortable wrinkle!

It is conceivable the result might not stand as the LOTG were not followed in this case. It maybe the match must NOW be replayed in its entirety! That of course is not a referee decision but the association or league that they play under. lol

What I admittedly am uncertain about is if the two cautions which should have resulted in a send off and at least a 1 game suspension are now in force and that player cannot participate in the next match his team plays and that might include this possible replay? lol . Such a decision again is in the hands of the review committee and or the league they play under. They usually do not wave disciplinary actions but whether fines or suspensions or results or discipline can be set aside or altered is a choice they will have to make. Whew glad it was not me that set this up! Lol That said given this was USA high school our NFHS liaison referee Joe Manjone will likely point out the remedy later .

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kelvin
The Laws of the Game do not cover such situations and it is left to the competition organisers to have in place Rules of Competition (ROC) to cover such eventualities. Other factors need to be covered as well such as the unavailability of players that is must it be the same list of players etc.
Here is an example of ROCs for the European Champions League which covers such situations
** If the remaining time of the match has to be played the next day, or on a reserve date or other date set by the UEFA administration, the following principles apply:
a) the match sheet may contain any of the eligible players who were on lists A and B when the match was abandoned, irrespective of whether they were actually on the match sheet for the abandoned match, with the exception of players substituted or sent off during the abandoned match as well as players suspended for the abandoned match. The players who were in play at the time the match was abandoned may not be included on the match sheet as substitutes when the match is resumed;
b) any sanctions imposed before the match was abandoned remain valid for the remainder of the match;
c) single yellow cards imposed before the match was abandoned are not carried forward to any other matches before the abandoned match is completed;
d) players sent off during the abandoned match cannot be replaced and the number of players in the starting line-up remains as it was when the match was abandoned;.......**
You will note point B.
Now in the competition you refer to there will be a different set of ROCs. Whether it covers this situation only the competition organisers can say. If it does not then one might have to assume that a new set of disciplinary sanctions begin from the restart particularly if there is a new referee appointed. If the player who gets a 2nd yellow is not sent off then one has to assume that there was no carry over. It would be a good idea to confirm with the referee his knowledge / understanding of his instructions before kick off.

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Kelvin,

Since the game had been restarted after the second caution had been given without a red card, the player cannot be given a red card and therefore does not have to sit out as part of a disqualification penalty. This is covered in NFHS Rule 5-2 on page 31 of the NFHS Rules book: .....'The officials can only correct a decision so long as the game has not been restarted'...

Hopefully, the involved officials will learn from this error.

I hope your son/daughter have a very successful season.