Question Number: 35768

Law 1- The Field 10/21/2024

RE: Adult

Pete Lee of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom asks...

Hi all. I have two questions. 1 - the ball is going towards the corner flag, the keeper and attacker go for the ball, and the ball goes out for a throw-in for the attacking team but the corner flag is taken out and the attacker takes a quick throw before the keeper can get can in his goal. The ball eventually goes wide for a goal kick, but I am interested to know if the ball went into the goal would the goal stand? As I thought corner flags must be in place at all times while the game is in play.

2- back pass to the keeper, the keeper stops it with his feet but a player goes down injured and the ref stops play for him to receive treatment, the game is restarted with a drop ball or would it still be considered a back pass? or does the dropball make it a new phase of play?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Pete
Thanks for the questions

1. There is no requirement in Law for a corner flag to be in place for play to continue. So in your example a goal is good despite a corner flag not being in place.
It is only a requirement at a corner kick and even at that as long as the kicker has not deliberately removed the flag a referee could allow a quick corner kick in a similar situation as described.

This is what the Law book states
“This is especially true for the lower levels of football where it may not always be possible for the Law to be strictly applied. For example, unless there are safety issues, the referee should allow a game to start/continue if: # one or more corner flags is missing.”

We will see referees insisting on corner flags being replaced and certainly in any deliberate removal by a kicker yet I have seem many situations where a corner flag has fallen down with play continuing without question.

2. The drópped ball begins a new phase of play so anything that happened before the referee stopping play is null so a goalkeeper would be entitled to pick up the ball inside the penalty area.
The key decision is whether play should be halted or not in the first place. In the modern game injury stoppages have become a bane on play with teams expecting play to be halted every time a player goes down.
It can pose serious match control issues as in certain tight games the team that is behind can take exception to these going to ground incidents where play gets halted. I watched a recent Championship game where the away team who was leading by 1 goal had multiple injuries in the last few minutes much to the chagrin on the home team who were pressing strongly for an equaliser. The referee did add on the lost time yet he did have to deal with multiple confrontations between players.
PGMOL had introduced some changes to try to deal with this yet it still persists. I even saw an injured player at the weekend who was down over the touchline roll back on which resulted in play being halted.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Pete,
while it is preferable the flag be in place, as long as there was no deliberate removal or dangerous situation or serious injury play could likely be permitted to continue and as such the goal would count!

I have used cones as well as a bundled up coats to act as corner flags.

There was a league that had metal welded square plates with spikes that when I arrived I refused to referee with them in place due to my opinion there were incredibly dangerous should in fact any player who slide into them would get deskinned, possible break a bone, given how firmly they were rooted once applied.

I like the magnetic soft poles far superior to the bicycle coiled whippets.

I recall watching Canada play El Salvador when the player held the whip part down and let it flick up deliberately into the opposing player's face, a malicious and pure red card act! So while we would seek to replace the corner flag it would not be necessary to stop attacking play.

(2)If the keeper commits an INDFK offence PRIOR to the referee stopping play and during the stoppage addresses the injury, the restart should not change?

If the referee had already decided to halt play FOR the injury then the DB restart is now a reality even if a subsequent INDFK act was occurring at the same time!
A referee restarts for WHY he stopped play!
Now there could be multiplicity in other actions he was unaware of or ignored where by it appears a bit off or a neutral AR advises something occurred prior he was not aware off.

A DB is a restart which resets play just as is an INDFK or DFK restart which resets play. A referee will go with the one to WHY he stopped play.

If a DB was say outside the PA and the keeper's team was the beneficiary of the DB and for some unearthly reason once the ball hit the ground, chooses to deliberately kick the ball back to the keeper, who uses his hands inside the PA, as a coach I could lose my mind! lol
Cheers