Question:
When a goal is scored, do you blow your whistle and point up field running backwards to the center? Or just point up field and run backwards to the center line – no whistle.
This topic comes up by our junior refs as they maintain that the Pro refs on TV never blow the whistle when a goal is scored.
USSF answer (July 1 2008):
Referees on the professional game do this because they are following the instructions in the Laws of the Game (Additional Instructions and Guidelines for Referees in 2007/2008; Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees in 2008/2009).
Use of whistle
The whistle is needed to:
• start play (1st, 2nd half), after a goal
• stop play
– for a free kick or penalty kick
– if match is suspended or terminated [Note: For 2008/2009 “terminated” has been changed to “abandoned”]
– when a period of play has ended due to the expiration of time
• restart play at
– free kicks when the wall is ordered back the appropriate distance
– penalty kicks
• restart play after it has been stopped due to
– the issue of a yellow or red card for misconduct
– injury
– substitution
The whistle is NOT needed
• to stop play for:
– a goal kick, corner kick or throw-in
– a goal
• to restart play from
– a free kick, goal kick, corner kick, throw-in
A whistle which is used too frequently unnecessarily will have less impact when it is needed. When a discretionary whistle is needed to start play, the referee should clearly announce to the players that the
restart may not occur until after that signal.
