Results of Poll - GK hanging from crossbar

Blue attacking Red. Shot at the goal, the 6-foot tall Red GK jumps to the cross bar and hangs from it. Ball hits his chest and he saves it. What action(s) would you take?

Let play continue 5 of 11 polled
Allowing play to continue ignores that soccer was not designed to be played by hanging from the crossbar. Actions such as this bring the game into disrepute. Similar type behavior might be a goalkeeper lying down in the goal area during a match, or lighting a cigarette on the field.

Stop play and caution the player 3 of 11 polled
CORRECT ANSWER. Bringing the game into disrepute falls under unsporting behavior, a cautionable offense. Thus, play should be stopped to issue the caution. The restart for such an action is an IFK. As the ball was in the goal area at the point of stoppage, it must be brought out to the 6y line (line parallel to and 6yds from the goal line). The restart will be for the attacking team (Blue).

Stop play, send off GK 0 of 11 polled
To choose this, you would have to be able to say this was a denying-goal-scoring opportunity (DGSO). When you consider the GK was horsing around or showing off, and would have saved the shot whether hanging from crossbar or not, this would not meet DGSO. Had this been a defender other than the GK and the ball touched the player's arm as he hung from the crossbar, you would have had a DGSO.

Stop play, caution GK, penalty kick 3 of 11 polled
This answer would violate the Laws. The reason for stopping play is misconduct, to issue a caution or send off, and the restart to that is IFK, NOT a penalty kick. In this case, even if the ball had touched the player's hands or arms, the result would be the same as the player was the GK in his own penalty area.

Thanks for taking the poll. Make any comments to this poll by clicking the link below.

Coaches Must Display Coaching Cards

This is a requirement for AYSO Region 112. Coaches and assistant coaches MUST have their risk management ID displayed in one of three ways:

1) on a lanyard around the neck (over the outer most article of clothing);
2) pinned to the outter most article of clothing (shirt or jacket); or
3) pinned to a hat or cap.

Coaches who don't abide by this requirement, established since 2004, should be warned and directed to correct it. If not corrected, report the omission on the match report.

To be clear, all coaches and asst. coaches (max of one each per game, per team) must have their ID card with them while coaching a game. If they do not, they may NOT coach the players.

If you are a referee outside AYSO Region 112, check with your league's requirements. They may differ.

How to Subscribe to Blog

Look at the bottom of the right side of the blog and you will find two links: One inserts an RSS link in your personal web page so you see the most recent POSTS to the Blog. The other installs a link to list the most recent COMMENTS in the Blog. Try it!

Results of Poll on GK pick up ball after AR flag

Lots of interest in this poll! I hope this analysis generates some discussion. Please comment. Here’s the scenario again:

“Red attacking out of their half and send ball high and long over heads of Blue defenders and one Red attacker standing in offside position. AR raises his flag, but you wave it down. Ball is just outside of PA and GK comes out and picks up ball.”

This situation tests the letter of the law against the spirit of the law and examines our ability as referees to put the game in perspective and keep the game fair for all.

Choice 1: Let play continue. 1 of 18 polled
While I’ll say there is NO absolutely right answer, to this situation (as you will see); there is a wrong answer, and this would be it. SOMETHING has happened and play cannot continue: the other choices allude to possibilities, either a foul for deliberately handling the ball, outside interference, or offside. The question becomes, what to call it and how to handle it.

Choice 2: Direct free kick. 16 of 18 polled
This choice would be the obvious one, certainly in keeping with the letter of the law. The referee has not stopped play, waving down the AR’s offside flag. This would be the correct answer IF you felt the goalkeeper tried to gain some advantage by playing the ball with his hands outside the penalty area. But if there was no opponent around, was that what was really happening? What if the goalkeeper saw the AR’s flag go up, other players stop playing, and assumed/expected the whistle would follow as he picked up the ball to send it back down field for the presumed IFK restart?

Choice 3: Dropped ball 0 of 18 polled
This choice might fit if you decided there was some kind of outside interference. Sure, you recognized the attacker pulled up when the AR’s flag went up. It appears the goalkeeper may have been confused seeing the flag up and just assumed the whistle was blown, so he came out of the penalty area to pick up the ball to send it back for the offside restart. Hmm, could a flag from the AR be considered outside interference? Is it interference at all, especially if it is raised in error? Was the AR’s flag an error? How different is an AR's flag raised prematurely or in error, different from a Referee's whistle blown in error?

Choice 4: Indirect Free Kick 1 of 18 polled
Considering Law 11, this choice is still viable. The “moment of judgment” was when the ball was kicked by the team of the player in the offside position. That moment of judgment continued until the point the goalkeeper controlled the ball. Yes, at one point you did decide their was not “active play” and you waved down the AR’s flag. Given what’s transpired, you might wish you could undo that “wave down” because that would let you go back to the AR’s flag and call this offside. Well, given all that, it seems the offside player’s position DID indeed interfere with play, yes? Even though you waved down the flag, you were still within the same moment of judgment. If you determined the player’s offside position did indeed interfere, you can still call the offside infringement. This choice combines the application of Law 11 and oft referred to "Law 18, Common Sense."

I will go out on a limb and say that I would choose #4.

I hope this gets you to think a little. Having read this analysis, would you change your mind now? Post your comments; continue the discussion.

Week 4 in Review

Here are some things I saw this week:

ASSESSMENTS AND UPGRADES. Congratulations to Neil Fancher and John Sedor, both who successfully completed their Advance Referee assessments today. They now join the top 2 percent of AYSO referees in the nation!!!

Katrina Beltran made an excellent run to the goal line, and was in perfect position to view the ball saved ON the goal line. I saw at least a half dozen situations today where the ball in or out of the goal was very close. ARs need to use speed and heads-up thinking to recognize the need to get to that goal line with the ball. No goal until we see the ball completely over the goal line.

In what hand to hold the flag. Unless signaling, ARs should always hold the flag in the hand nearest the Referee. This means we have to keep switching the flag between hands as we change directions.

Mechanics at the Penalty Kick. When the referee calls a foul that results in a penalty kick, the referee team should be well aware of what's happened by the referee's signal (running toward PK and pointing at spot) as well as by the tone of his whistle (loud and long). The lead AR should walk smartly to the intersection of the goal line and the penalty area (see diagram above) and hold the flag to the inside of the field. At this point, the AR can assist the Referee with getting the PK underway by encouraging the goalkeeper to step on the goal line. If this is discussed in the pre-game, the AR can give a thumbs-up to the Referee, saving the R from having to approach the goalkeeper.

If the goalkeeper comes off the goal line after the R's whistle for the PK and BEFORE the ball is kicked AND the ball does not go into the goal, then the AR should signal the R by holding the flag horizontally across the AR's waist (see picture above). The R will decide whether to retake the PK or not.

Self Assessments. Okay Referees, it's time to send your short self assessments. I only got a couple last week. You can write them directly to this post, or you can send me an email, and I'll add your self assessment to the blog.

Results of Passback Poll

We had 7 referees respond to the poll on how to handle a situation of a defender miskicking a ball, then the defender's goalkeeper handles the ball in his own penalty area. Three of seven said to stop play and award an IFK to the other team; and four said to let play continue.

The correct action should be to stop play and award an IFK.

Read the reason in 12.20 in Advice to Referees. It's linked on the right of the page. Primary considerations are the player "kicked the ball" rather than the ball just glancing off him from another player's action; the GK picked up the ball in the PA.

Thanks to all who took the poll.

New feature

I've added a list of links to USSF memo and clips on the right hand sidebar of the Blog. USSF has created a channel on Youtube where it posts its instructional clips. The channel is named ussoccerdotcom. The first two links are the clip and memo related to the "passback" violation discussed earlier.