Question:
Two senior sides are at 1 goal each in the first half.
Twelve minutes before the first half is to finish. The floodlights fail on one side of the field.The grounds people from the home side frantically start to fix the lights & acheive the process in twelve minutes the lights are fully operational in twenty minutes. The referee & assistant officials rule that due to the break taken by players for the delay while light maintenace was performed. There would be a resumption for twelve minutes to finish the first half.Then no break would be taken,& the teams would turn & play the second half of 45 minutes.Both teams were aware of the decision. During the twelve minutes to finish the second half, the home team scored making the score 2v1. The half finished the referee blew the whistle to turn around for the second half. However the visiting team decided that they were not going to participate in the second half & walked in protest due to no break being allowed between halves. The referee gave them seven minutes to retake their position on the field to no avail.
They simply got dressed & left the ground. Please can you advise if the team should falfit the game & the points be awrded to the home side who were winning at the time of abandoment, or should the game have to be replayed. Please can you give reference to the fifa rule if any, that answers this dilemma.
USSF answer (May 27, 2008):
The referee’s decision to forego the halftime break was not in keeping with Law 8:
Half-Time Interval
Players are entitled to an interval at half-time.
The halftime interval must not exceed 15 minutes.
Competition rules must state the duration of the half-time interval.
The duration of the halftime interval may be altered only with the consent of the referee.
While the Law does allow the referee to consent to alteration of the DURATION of the halftime break, it does not permit the referee to do away with the interval if even only one player wants the break.
