Question Number: 32983

League Specific 1/14/2019

RE: Youth League competitive 11 a side Under 14

calum anderson of ardrossan, ayrshire scotland asks...

Hi,

My sons team were involved in a league match at the weekend. The goalkeeper from the team winning 2-1 (and had been winning most of the game) was injured by an opposing player (head knock)and the referee abandoned the game while under pressure from the team that were losing. It was stopped at 68 minutes of a 70 minute match, so just 2 mins short of full time. Should this be a replay or will the score be awarded to the winning team?
Thanks,
Lummie.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Calum
The answer depends on the competition rules, the referees report and the disciplinary panel of the competition organisers who judge such situations.
The answer can be
A. The result to stand
B. The remaining time played out
c. The game replayed in full.
If I was guessing I would say that with two minutes to go it is likely that the result may stand. I see no reason for the game to be abandoned for a single injury unless there was a problem with insufficient light or that the removal of the player took so long that the game had effectively finished. No one wants to stand around for say a lengthy period while an ambulance makes it way to a ground.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Calum,
There is no definitive answer according to the Laws of the Game, which allow for the fact that in such cases, the competition organisers can decide what happens. Sometimes the competition rules will specify what happens in a particular scenario - for example, if the game is past a certain stage and the abandonment was not caused by misconduct from either team, the rules may state that the result stands. In other competitions, the decision may be made on an ad hoc basis each time.

The three most common outcomes are as listed by ref McHugh. Unless the injury was a particularly horrific one that had traumatised the players or one of the situations described by ref McHugh applied, I do agree that it might not have been necessary to abandon the match, especially with the game so close to finishing.