Question:
I actually have two questions for you.
1.) During a High School match a player struck an opponent right in front of the Assistant Referee which resulting a broken nose. Instead of the Asst. Referee raising her flag immediately, she insisted on waiting for the next stoppage of play. When the ball did go out of play for a throw in, the opponents quickly threw the ball back into play. The Center never saw the A.R. until later after play had restarted. Once the Center realizes the A.R. he then checked to see what she needed. There was no red card administered for the fact that he said that play had been restarted? I tried to inform him that this does not matter, that play is stop until the center recognizes the A.R.. Under Law 6 Assistant Referee (6.4 Missed Assistant Referee Signals and under Law 9 Ball Out Of Play 9.1 ) was I correct are not?
2.) Offside is called by the A.R. for offside the defending team kicks the ball out for a throw in. The attacker than quickly threw the ball in quickly and continued their attack, which the A.R. kept the flag up during this time. The Center recognized the A.R. and then called offside. Was this the correct procedure? Under Law 6 Assistant Referee it says you hold your flag until the defending team either gains clear possession are the defending team wins a throw in are goal kick.
USSF answer (May 28, 2009):
If the events had occurred in a game played under the Laws of the Game, correct procedure would be to follow the guidance given in the USSF publication “Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game” 2009/2010 (not yet on the street):
6.4 MISSED ASSISTANT REFEREE SIGNALS
If the assistant referee signals a ball out of play but the referee does not see the signal for an extended period, during which play is stopped and restarted several times, the assistant referee should lower the flag. The FIFA Referee Committee has declared that it is impossible for the referee to act on the assistant referee’s signal after so much play.If the referee misses the assistant referee’s signal for offside, the assistant referee should stand at attention with the flag raised until the defending team gains clear possession or until a goal kick or throw-in is awarded to the defending team.
Although the general rule is that a card for misconduct must be given at the next stoppage of play and that, if this does not occur, the opportunity to punish the misconduct has passed, the International Board’s “Interpretations” section has stated that this does not apply to serious foul play. However, in order to make handling such incidents credible, certain conditions must apply. The most important requirement is that the assistant referee must have signaled the original misconduct and maintained the signal despite it not being seen by the referee. USSF has indicated that this requirement should be discussed thoroughly in the pre-game and that the referee should clearly indicate what sorts of misconduct would qualify for this treatment. The International Board spoke specifically of “serious foul play” but USSF guidelines include any form of violence (including “violent conduct”). If the referee becomes aware of the assistant referee’s signal for misconduct at a subsequent stoppage of play, the restart (after the misconduct is handled) would remain the same based on what stopped play in the first place. If, upon becoming aware of an assistant referee’s signal for misconduct, play is stopped solely for this reason, the restart is an indirect free kick where the an indirect free kick where the original offense occurred.*
To avoid such situations, the referee should make eye contact with the assistant referees as often as possible. In addition, the assistant referees must be alert for and mirror each other’s signals if needed to assist the referee.
