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Junior/Youth goal, pitch invasion, quick kickoff, ...?

R

Roger M

New Member
Hello,

I had a unique incident over this past weekend.

Final of a u12 boys match and yellow scores against red in the last minute of extra time. Yellow players plus most of their substitutes then wildly celebrate on the FOP, but in their own half. Red smartly grabs the ball out of the net and places the ball at the center. Once I realize that Red want to kickoff during the celebration, I blow the whistle. No yellow player hears this. Red boots the ball over the celebrating yellow but it (fortunately) goes out for a yellow GK.

Question: If red scored without touching any yellow players, would I have been correct in awarding a goal?
 
The Referee Store
Roger M said:
Hello,

I had a unique incident over this past weekend.

Final of a u12 boys match and yellow scores against red in the last minute of extra time. Yellow players plus most of their substitutes then wildly celebrate on the FOP, but in their own half. Red smartly grabs the ball out of the net and places the ball at the center. Once I realize that Red want to kickoff during the celebration, I blow the whistle. No yellow player hears this. Red boots the ball over the celebrating yellow but it (fortunately) goes out for a yellow GK.

Question: If red scored without touching any yellow players, would I have been correct in awarding a goal?
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If there were extra persons on the field of play at the time, which it sounds like there was, then you shouldn't have even let the game kick off again, nevermind allowing a goal :)
 
Roger M said:
Once I realize that Red want to kickoff during the celebration, I blow the whistle.
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Why? It sounds like you were favouring the red team, perhaps thinking that they could sneak a goal and level the scoreline again. As referees, we not only have to be neutral, we have to be seen to be neutral as well.

If there is flagrant bias (even if unintentional) you're risking a player calling you the c word, that is then an S6, and risks escalating to other players and - for youth in particular - the coaches, managers and parents.
 
Thank you very much for the insight. I suppose I was biased towards ensuring that Red got in the kickoff. Fair point.
 
Roger M said:
Thank you very much for the insight. I suppose I was biased towards ensuring that Red got in the kickoff. Fair point.
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Roger, you are a new member who has only posted this question. Can I ask if you are a qualified referee, or are you a coach/parent asked to step in and referee the game? If the latter, and you have never really refereed at all, it can be difficult to divorce yourself from the game and become that neutral person. Often you will find yourself over-correcting the bias, so actually you give less to your own team and more to the opposition - because you are conscious of not coming across as favouring your own side.
 
Whilst I am a qualified referee, I am just beginning my (hopefully) long career. This was the first time that I had ever seen this happen and I got swept up in the chaos of what I thought was a proper restart -- all yellow players over the line and outside the center circle, ball on the center, and red ready to go.

The bias question is reasonable and something that I need to think about often. I do want to maintain my professionalism throughout the match, and fortunately I have carried myself well so far.
 
Something similar actually happened in the championship earlier on this season between Birmingham and Villa (correct me if I'm wrong..!?), Mike Dean was the referee. Villa had scored and all of their players were celebrating in their own half, Dean told one of the Villa players to stay in the Birmingham half so he couldn't restart play while they were celebrating. Caused a bit of controversy but was good thinking and he also got praised off the PGMOL for doing so if I remember rightly!
 
What you could done is said to reds we will wait until they have finished celebrating stopped the watch then hurried the team up
 
If no player heard you blowing your whistle, my advice would be practise on your whistling, the whistle is a vital control tool (stop/start) and if you are using it in such a way that a team cannot hear the restart then you need to develop better whistling skills.
 
Roger M said:
Thank you very much for the insight. I suppose I was biased towards ensuring that Red got in the kickoff. Fair point.
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The debate about a quick kickoff has been held on here before.
As stated, the fact that subs were on the field meant the kickoff here was illegal.
But had that not been the case and players were celebrating in their own half? A kick-off isn't a free kick. It isn't seeking to restore the status quo from before a foul - it's meant to be an even-handed restart with one team in possession after the most notable event that can happen in a game. So while a quick kick-off may be legal otherwise, 'because you can' doesn't mean you should, and IMO you should wait some length of time for players to stop celebrating - IMO that's spirit of the game.

Especially at such a young age when they really don't know any better - I just don't see it as fair otherwise.
 
CapnBloodbeard said:
A kick-off isn't a free kick. It isn't seeking to restore the status quo from before a foul - it's meant to be an even-handed restart with one team in possession after the most notable event that can happen in a game. So while a quick kick-off may be legal otherwise, 'because you can' doesn't mean you should, and IMO you should wait some length of time for players to stop celebrating - IMO that's spirit of the game.
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Great insight here. I lost sight of this. Thank you.
 
Long time reader, but haven't previously commented. I have seen this happen at a Stafford Rangers match (probably about 10 years ago), which resulted in a goal. A little bit vague as I can't remember the opposition or the year, and a quick google search has come up empty. There was obviously uproar from the team that conceded, and it would have a strong impact on your match control if you allowed such a thing to happen. Have never been put in this position myself, but I would go to lengths to stop it happening, i.e. keeping at least one of the celebrating players in the opposition half, or simply refusing to allow the KO. Let's face it, we wouldn't start a match or a half until the goalkeeper is in position. Obviously in this scenario with substitutes on the pitch, it should not have been allowed.
 
As far as I'm aware, if the subs were all off the FOP and everyone was in their own half there's nothing in the LOTG to suggest you can't allow it. However, it's a big risk in terms of your match control. Personally, I would have given a whistle to the yellows and told them to hurry up. If you've warned them and they carry on, you can play or even go down the route of a booking for delaying the restart of play ... but anyway, the point I'm making is give them a big clear warning if you plan on doing it.
 
Put simply, you cannot allow the game to restart in this scenario until everyone is ready, it would be suicidal. I had almost an identical situation a couple of weeks ago. The opposition asked if they could kick off and I just said no, no need for a reason (in the LOTG there was no reason why I couldn't have restarted). If you look at the big picture, how much grief will you get for waiting compared with restarting and what would be in the spirit of the game?
 
Nice thought but its a totally calamitous outcome if it all goes tits up... Others shouldn't have been on the pitch so you shouldn't really start at all however there have been occasions where as long as the opposition (only) are in their own half then you haven't technically breached the Laws (maybe the spirit of the Law though). Don't do it again!! :)
 
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