Question Number: 30022

Law 5 - The Referee 1/16/2016

RE: Spectator Adult

J R Norman of Sunderland, United Kingdom asks...

If in a game a player commits a foul that will earn him a second yellow card which of course is a red and he will be sent off. The referee allows play to continue and will deal with the player when the play comes to a natural break. However as the play develops the same player scores a goal. What does the referee do now does he allow the goal and send off the player or does he disallow the goal and send off the player or something else.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The advice is NOT to play advantage in a sending off situation except in an immediate goal scoring opportunity. So the referee should immediately stop play and dismiss the player in all other situations.
Now as described the referee once he has continued with the game through advantage, awards the goal, cautions the player and then sends him off for a second caution. The restart is a kick off. Clearly that will not sit well with the conceding team who will feel hard done by so it is for that reason why it is advised NOT to play advantage on a sending off. The referee has no other choice in Law but to award the goal in your scenario.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi JR,
just to be clear the only goal I would permit by that player is an own goal!
IF the referee allows an advantage on a 2nd caution event that does not result in a goal there is NO WAY IN MY MATCH if I was aware would I permit the player destined to be sent off to participate in any active follow up play that would be in favour of his team.

Granted if you do not stop play and the culprit that was due to receive a 2nd caution thus a red card and send off , if he managed to actually score a goal under the LOTG that goal would stand.

In my opinion, the advantage is a goal not a shot not an attack continued, we are coming back to the spot of the foul, showing cards, sending off, reducing players . IF and it is a HUGE IF the advantage was truly realized but somehow a goal did not result I would stop play and restart with a drop ball before I permit the sanctioned player to participate.


Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi JR,
The next stoppage must be a natural one - ball out of play, free kick for a new incident, and so forth.

Once the referee has applied advantage, he has stated that there will be no stopping play for this offence, but the card will be issued at the next natural stoppage. The referee must wait for this stoppage to naturally occur - you don't get to play advantage for the other team, then later on stop play just because the opposing team is doing something with the ball. Advantage is not a guaranteed outcome - you're simply doing it because it's better for the other team than a free kick. Possession and opportunity. What they do with that has nothing to do with the referee.

Playing advantage off a cautionable offence is risky. The player in question could commit another serious offence, possibly requiring 2 cautions then. He could go on to score a goal - or even stop one. There could even be retaliation against that player if the teams don't realise you're going to deal with it. That's why you want to make sure it's a really, really good advantage if you're playing it off a card.

But realistically, playing advantage from a cautionable offence is absolutely no different to playing advantage off a minor careless foul. You wouldn't stop play later on for the latter anyway, so why the first? You just want to be aware of perceptions and be more reluctant to apply advantage, that's all.

Answer provided by Referee James Sowa

JR,

In your scenario above, the goal was legally scored. Show the goal scored the second caution and send him off. The restart would be a kickoff.

As Referee Wright points out above, we can not manufacture a stoppage to deal with this player. This is why we must be very careful when playing a 'delayed' caution. I would take it one step further though. In this scenario, assuming the referee knows this is a second caution, unless the ball is headed into the back of the net, there really is no advantage better than the extra man.

In this situation, I would have probably called the initial foul, sent off the player, and resumed with a free kick. This may upset the attacking team initially, but less so than the scenario presented above.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

It is imperative that IF a referee is aware this will be a 2nd caution thus in effect a decision to SEND OFF, advantage should not be considered unless the ball was to enter the goal for a good goal. Otherwise we bring it back to the spot of the foul and award the free kick show a yellow card show the red card and send off reducing his team by a player.

Your scenario.
The referee can not undo a decision to stop play prior to the goal. He allowed it thus it becomes part of the match.

(a) BECAUSE the referee had not signalled play to stop the referee is left with a terrible decision. He can choose to caution the goal scorer for his earlier challenge, show the yellow card, show the red card, resulting in the send off reduce the team who just scored by a player and create huge waves in the match prior to the kick off as the goal is legal.

(b)A less public option but very sleazy and lacking in integrity is a referee just ignores the caution and gets on with the kick off provided he had not in an obvious way indicated to all that this player was going to be cautioned.

The offshoot here in our discussion is BEFORE ANY SECONDARY GOAL OR SUBSEQUENT ACTION IF a referee was to decide the 1st advantage was in fact established/realized but no goal resulted off the 1st advantage
OPEN GOAL: player in middle of goal miskicks ball off post
Does the referee have the AUTHORITY to just STOP PLAY and send the as of yet to be 2nd cautioned player off?
OR If for example the referee had forgotten the player was on a caution (AR input or he remembers a bit later)

Lets examine the consequences of permitting a player due to be sent off allowed to stay involved in active play.

(1)He can create additional misconduct of a VC nature against anyone before he is no longer a player.
(2)The opposition COULD in fact foul or direct misconduct at him.
Lets imagine our player waiting to be shown the exit is now on a breakaway where the opposition keeper fouls him by DOGSO inside the PA.
Can you imagine the carnage of awarding a PK, sending off the keeper, then casually show a yellow and a red card to the player just fouled for an actionable misconduct that had occurred much earlier?

The term natural stoppage is not mentioned in the LOTG. The wording is Immediately before we restart for this action or when the ball is next out of play. When a referee blows his whistle the ball is no longer in play. If a referee was to stop play just to send the player off the match could not be protested as a breech of the LOTG more likely the mechanics of how it came to be would be scrutinized .

This action described herein would not be at all acceptable for only a caution, it is the send off decision we are following through on.
If NO GOAL results STOP PLAY is the correct action for a referee to take on a send off situation of which a 2nd caution qualifies. If the advantage is not realized offer the free kick, if advantage was realized stop play and restart with a drop ball. This is bad mechanics fixing a poor decision hopefully preventing a worse outcome .

from our pitch to your pitch in the spirit of fair play

Excerpts from the LOTG

A REFEREE
• stops, suspends or abandons the match, at his discretion, for any
infringements of the Laws
• takes disciplinary action against players guilty of cautionable
and sending-off offences. He is not obliged to take this action immediately
but must do so when the ball next goes out of play

The referee may play advantage whenever an infringement or offence occurs.
The referee should consider the following circumstances in deciding whether to
apply the advantage or stop play:

• the severity of the offence: if the infringement warrants an expulsion, the
referee must stop play and send off the player unless there is a subsequent
opportunity to score a goal

If the offence warrants a caution, it must be issued at the next stoppage.
However, unless there is a clear advantage, it is recommended that the referee
stops play and cautions the player immediately. If the caution is NOT issued at
the next stoppage, it cannot be shown later.