Question:
I’m stumped. I’m a new referee and during my training class two items came up that have recurred in subsequent games that coached and refereed.

1) I know the “tucked in jersey” rule is a USSF one and not a FIFA law. What is the appropriate penalty to a player who’s jersey has come out? The referee in our game told my player to leave the field to fix his jersey.

2) I can’t find a specific rule as to when you can play the ball while you’re on the ground and when you can’t play it.

USSF answer (June 2, 2008):
1) There is no penalty or punishment for a player whose jersey has come out. The player is expected to replace the jersey and to look professional. If the player doesn’t do it on his or her own, then the referee should instruct him or her to do it on the field. There is no need for the player to leave the field to accomplish this arduous task.

2) There is no rule against playing the ball while on the ground. The only rule is that the player on the ground must not place him- or herself or other players in danger by remaining on top of the ball or having the ball between his/her legs, particularly if this is clearly deliberate.…

Question:
Is it a foul if an opposing player waits outside the goal box and jumps up and into the goalie’s punt, landing within the goal box and within 1 foot of the goalie? If so, is that worthy of a yellow or red card?

USSF answer (June 2, 2008):
No player is allowed to interfere with the goalkeeper’s ability to put the ball back into general play. The referee should stop play and restart with an indirect free kick for the goalkeeper’s team from the place where the infringement occurred. (Please remember the special circumstances for restarts after infringements occurring within the goal area.) If the opponent makes contact with the goalkeeper, the restart would be a direct free kick and possibly a caution or send-off, depending on the nature of the infringement and contact. In all cases, the referee might consider warning the player that this action borders on unsporting behavior.…

Question:
I am sure I saw something in the past, but cannot find it.

I under stand if an offensive player is fouled outside the penalty area and the foul continues into the penalty area, it results in a penalty kick (ex the defensive player started pushing the attacker outside and continued to push him as the player entered the penalty area).

When a foul is committed outside the penalty area by the defensive player and the offensive player falls into the penalty area. It is considered a continuation foul that results in a penalty kick in the following situations?

Scenario 1 The offensive player is moving toward the goal and is fouled approximately 1 foot outside the penalty area and his momentum carried him into the penalty area.

Scenario 2 The offensive player is moving toward the goal and is fouled well outside the penalty area and his momentum after one or two steps carried him into the penalty area where he falls.

Scenario 3 The offensive player is standing just outside the penalty area, is fouled and falls into the penalty area.

USSF answer (May 29, 2008):
The source of your information is this position paper, issued in April 2007:

Subject: When Fouls Continue!
Date: April 30, 2007

Prompted by several recent situations in professional league play, a discussion has developed regarding the proper action to take when a foul continues over a distance on the field. Many fouls occur with the participants in motion, both the player committing the foul and the opponent being fouled, and it is not unusual for the offense to end far away from where the initial contact occurred.

Usually, the only problem this creates for the referee is the need to decide the proper location for the restart. Occasionally, however, an additional issue is created when the distance covered results in an entirely different area of the field becoming involved. A foul which starts outside the penalty area, for example, might continue into and finally end inside the offending player’s penalty area. Or a foul might start inside the field but, due to momentum, end off the field. In these cases, the decision about where the foul occurred also affects what the correct restart must be.

In general, the referee should determine the location of the foul based on what gives the greater benefit to the player who was fouled. FIFA has specifically endorsed this principle in one of its “Questions and Answers on the Laws of the Game “ (12.31) which states that a penalty kick is the correct restart if a player begins holding an opponent outside the player’s penalty area and continues this action inside his penalty area.

The restarts for the actions described in your three scenarios do not qualify as penalty kicks unless the foul continues to be committed from outside the penalty area into the penalty area. Momentum alone does not change the location of the foul if the player who committed the foul stops before the player who was fouled actually enters the penalty area.

Where referees err here is to forget that some fouls are clearly single events (e. g., trip, strike, kick) whereas others at least can be continuous events (hold, charge) and still others are ambiguous (e. g., jumping at — is this foul located where the jumper starts his jump or where the opponent is at whom the jump is aimed?).

So, to emphasize it clearly: The restarts for the actions described in your three scenarios do not qualify as penalty kicks unless the foul continues to be committed from outside the penalty area into the penalty area. Momentum alone is not enough.…

Question:
If a player loses a boot during open play and continues to play on ( not just kicks the ball away or has a shot at goal) what should the referee do as the player could be putting himself at risk of injury.

If the referee stops play and asks the player to leave the field of play so that he can put his boot back on and then return with the referees permission, how does the referee restart the match.

Does he give a drop ball where the ball was when he stopped play or does he award an indrect free kick to the other side ?

USSF answer (May 26, 2008):
This answer of March 8, 2005 is still valid:
There is no need for the referee to stop the match if the boot was lost accidentally and did not disturb any other players. The player is expected to replace the boot as quickly as possible and get on with play. The referee neither needs to nor should ask the player to leave the field to put the boot back on. Aside from immediate danger, the loss of a boot should be handled the same way as is any issue of illegal equipment: advise the player to correct the problem during play and then, at the next stoppage, require a departure from the field only if the player could not or chose not to comply with the request.

However, if the referee does stop play for this incident, the only possible restart is a dropped ball, taken from the place where the ball was when play was stopped (subject to the special circumstances of Law 8).…

Question:
An attacker has been complaining to the AR about his offside decisions. The attacker is subbed and the sub goes by the rule book waiting until the player leaves the field and the CR beckons the sub onto the field. The AR flags to get the attention of the CR, who finds out that, before the player left the field of play, he was verbally abusive and the AR suggests it is enough for the player to be sent off. The CR does not notice the flag of the AR until AFTER the sub has entered the field after having been beckoned by the referee.

The question posed was, essentially, is the departing player a player being sent off (because the misconduct occurred when he was still a player as the sub had not yet been allowed on the field) or is he a substituted player because the referee didn’t sanction him until after a valid substitution has taken place? If the former, does his team play short? If the former and there are limited substitutions, was the substitute who was beckoned onto the field ever a player and is the team charged for a substitution?

USSF answer (May 23, 2008):
If the referee accepts the AR’s information — and why would he not? — then the player who has now left the field is sent off and his team must play short. The substitute, i. e., the new player who entered the field legally, must be removed from the game at this time, but may be substituted in again for another player at a later opportunity, if one exists.…

Question:
I got into a debate with a fellow referee in a local adult amateur league the other weekend. It was a friendly disagreement, but I’m appealing to a higher authority to adjudicate which of us was correct, since we couldn’t agree.

Red Team is playing Green Team. A Red player fouls a Green player; the center referee stops play and signals a direct free kick for Green. A Red player (perhaps confused, perhaps intentionally) picks up the ball, places it, and kicks it, putting it back into play. The referee whistles to stop play, returns the ball to the spot of the original foul, and signals again for a Green kick.

We could not agree whether the referee was correct in doing so. One of us maintained that the ball was in play once the kick was taken, regardless of who took it, and the referee could not then stop play.

The other one of us argued that the referee could, indeed, stop play, as the kick taken was not a proper restart and that, in fact, had it been an obvious attempt by Red to delay the Green kick, the Red player could even have been cautioned for delaying a restart.

Who was right? A frosty beverage may be riding on the answer! 🙂

USSF answer (May 20, 2008):
The principle expressed in the following excerpt from the USSF publication “Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game” fits the situation you presented to a tee. It makes absolutely no difference that in your situation it was the player who screwed up, not the referee. Retake the original restart!!!! If you believe there was some confusion on the part of the Red player, let it go with a friendly warning to pay attention. If you believe it to have been a conscious effort to subvert the referee’s decision, caution as suggested in your query.

5.14 CHANGING A DECISION ON AN INCORRECT RESTART
If the referee awards a restart for the wrong team and realizes the mistake before the restart is taken, then the restart may be corrected even though the decision was announced after the restart took place. This is based on the established principle that the referee’s initial decision takes precedence over subsequent action. The visual and verbal announcement of the decision after the restart has already occurred is well within the Spirit of the Law, provided the decision was made before the restart took place.

And where/when do we get OUR frosty beverage??…