The Ref Stop

Advantage...when can you pull it back

JudgeDreadful

JudgeDreadful

Member
I played what I thought was a good advantage today but ended up with a bit of grief from a coach. A pretty fast player was making his way through the opposition towards goal, two or maybe even three had a go at stopping him with them all making some sort of contact and slightly putting the player off his stride. He retains possession so I shout advantage play on, and a few moments later gets a pretty decent shot off but it goes wide. The coach isn't too happy and wants the free kick. How long can you reasonably let play run before pulling it back? Had it gone for say a corner is that enough advantage to not have to pull it back?
 
The Ref Stop
JudgeDreadful said:
I played what I thought was a good advantage today but ended up with a bit of grief from a coach. A pretty fast player was making his way through the opposition towards goal, two or maybe even three had a go at stopping him with them all making some sort of contact and slightly putting the player off his stride. He retains possession so I shout advantage play on, and a few moments later gets a pretty decent shot off but it goes wide. The coach isn't too happy and wants the free kick. How long can you reasonably let play run before pulling it back? Had it gone for say a corner is that enough advantage to not have to pull it back?
Click to expand...
He got the shot off id say advantage played providing the shot wasn’t impacted by the challenges that were made (off balance, much worse angle etc)
 
I actually say to captains when playing advantage there is no set time for each individual advantage, I will pull it back if I feel the initial advantage I am signalling hasn't been achieved but I won't bring it back if I also feel you've either wasted it by just punting the ball away under no pressure or got a reasonable shot away.

I got moaned at for not giving a free kick (but did caution the defender following the advantage) because the ball fell to an attacker, with an open goal (ish, all he had to do was lift it above the falling keeper) but he blasted it high, and even higher. Not my fault he couldn't score what looked like a really easy chance.
 
Timing advantage comes with practice and it’s harder to time when a shot is coming quickly. In the end, usually - for once the pundits are right - you don’t want to take back an advantage to give the classic “two bites of the cherry”.

But a player being fouled just before or just as they shoot is one of the hardest things to officiate.

The match context is also important. It’s much easier to play advantage away from goal when the match isn’t close. It’s much harder when the game is close and it’s central close to goal. In the end you decide, you take a risk as you try to benefit the attacker.
 
JudgeDreadful said:
I played what I thought was a good advantage today but ended up with a bit of grief from a coach. A pretty fast player was making his way through the opposition towards goal, two or maybe even three had a go at stopping him with them all making some sort of contact and slightly putting the player off his stride. He retains possession so I shout advantage play on, and a few moments later gets a pretty decent shot off but it goes wide. The coach isn't too happy and wants the free kick. How long can you reasonably let play run before pulling it back? Had it gone for say a corner is that enough advantage to not have to pull it back?
Click to expand...

go back to what advantage means. It means it is better for the offended team to not call the foul. So, was the opportunity the attacker had better than what the FK would have been? Sounds like it from what you wrote. Unless he was still off balance from the foul, this was probably a good application of advantage and there was no reason to go back.
 
See I had a similar incident. Attacking player gets fouled on the edge of the box (outside and central to the D).

The attacking team manage to retain the ball but quickly let off an extremely poor shot, all while under pressure from the defence. I deem there hasn't actually been an advantage and blow for a free kick.

The defending team are annoyed cause they see it as me giving them two bites at the cherry.

Wasn't confident in that one.
 
OldNavyRef said:
See I had a similar incident. Attacking player gets fouled on the edge of the box (outside and central to the D).

The attacking team manage to retain the ball but quickly let off an extremely poor shot, all while under pressure from the defence. I deem there hasn't actually been an advantage and blow for a free kick.

The defending team are annoyed cause they see it as me giving them two bites at the cherry.

Wasn't confident in that one.
Click to expand...
Sounds right to me. Doesn’t sound like they ever had an opportunity better than the FK, which means it wasn’t better for the offended team to not call the foul. I know I’m harping on this, but I think this is where a lot of refs get lost on advantage. Possession alone is not advantage. Having a better opportunity than what the FK would provide is what is needed to apply advantage.

(One caveat on what I just wrote. I inferred from what you wrote that they only had the opportunity to get off a poor shot. If they had a better opportunity and made a poor choice to take a poor shot, then they wasted their advantage and you shouldn’t go back. But I don’t think that’s what you were describing.)
 
This one up here for me. 👆🏻

This has been an area of focus for me this season.

I normally tell captains the following at the start...
- I will try and play advantage where I can.
- I will try my best to make it clear I'm doing so.
- I may let it go for a while 4, 5, 6 seconds and still call it back.
- If I call it back it is because I think no genuine advantage has been gained, not because I'm responding to their appeals.

That's roughly what I say. It doesn't mean I'm any good at it! 😂
 
Last edited:
Always one of those "damned if you do etc." scenarios is advantage.

What has helped me over the past couple of seasons is just slightly delaying my whistle for free kicks. I like to think this has given me the opportunity to spot an advantage develop a bit better. Of course, a delayed whistle always invites the usual player/coach protests that "you're just giving it off the shout Ref!" :rolleyes: I (personally) can always bat that back by saying "No, it's called a delayed whistle because I'm just waiting to see if there's any possible advantage"

Remember, one of the most common forms of advantage is when an obvious foul has been committed and everybody (bar the attacking player in question) stops/hesitates expecting you to blow for the free kick. I've lost count of the amount of times that's happened to me. I'm raising my whistle to my lips and then suddenly there's a gap opens up and the advantage is "on" in which case the whistle never comes and I'm shouting "Okay we'll have ADVANTAAAAAAGE!!". :)
 
Kes said:
Always one of those "damned if you do etc." scenarios is advantage.

What has helped me over the past couple of seasons is just slightly delaying my whistle for free kicks. I like to think this has given me the opportunity to spot an advantage develop a bit better. Of course, a delayed whistle always invites the usual player/coach protests that "you're just giving it off the shout Ref!" :rolleyes: I (personally) can always bat that back by saying "No, it's called a delayed whistle because I'm just waiting to see if there's any possible advantage"

Remember, one of the most common forms of advantage is when an obvious foul has been committed and everybody (bar the attacking player in question) stops/hesitates expecting you to blow for the free kick. I've lost count of the amount of times that's happened to me. I'm raising my whistle to my lips and then suddenly there's a gap opens up and the advantage is "on" in which case the whistle never comes and I'm shouting "Okay we'll have ADVANTAAAAAAGE!!". :)
Click to expand...
I hate this.
Had this Saturday in the first couple minutes and a player shouted out to his team mates "he's a gives on call ref!".

Nope. A quick delay and see if he gets away.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes pointing to a spot on the grass - similar to how a rugby referee does - and a comment like “I’ve seen it” or “got it” buys you a bit of leeway for coming back.
 
JudgeDreadful said:
I played what I thought was a good advantage today but ended up with a bit of grief from a coach. A pretty fast player was making his way through the opposition towards goal, two or maybe even three had a go at stopping him with them all making some sort of contact and slightly putting the player off his stride. He retains possession so I shout advantage play on, and a few moments later gets a pretty decent shot off but it goes wide. The coach isn't too happy and wants the free kick. How long can you reasonably let play run before pulling it back? Had it gone for say a corner is that enough advantage to not have to pull it back?
Click to expand...
You get this a lot, everyone wants as many chances as possible.

Realistically was the advantage worse than the free kick? ‘I’m not going to hold my arms up until you’ve put it in the back of the net,’ can work.
 
An important note here is that I don't signal advantage until I'm giving advantage, which means that I don't pull it back once I've said I'm giving it. This leads to less frustration from the players.
 
Viridis1886 said:
This one up here for me. 👆🏻

This has been an area of focus for me this season.

I normally tell captains the following at the start...
- I will try and play advantage where I can.
- I will try my best to make it clear I'm doing so.
- I may let it go for a while 4, 5, 6 seconds and still call it back.
- If I call it back it is because I think no genuine advantage has been gained, not because I'm responding to their appeals.

That's roughly what I say. It doesn't mean I'm any good at it! 😂
Click to expand...
For me 6 seconds is too long for it to qualify. The most I would wait is 4 seconds but preferably 3. Either call the FK within that time or there is no going back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kes
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top