A&H

Outside interference & foul after whistle gone

ABRef

New Member
Hi guys,

Just a couple of questions I've been meaning to ask to clarify!

I regularly ref on field where a tree slightly overhangs one side of the pitch. Sometimes when a throw-in is taken or clearance near the tree, the ball will hit the branches and fall back in play. When this has happened I have been restarting play with a drop ball, is this the correct restart though?

Also, I've always wondered how I'd deal with the following scenario: an attacker is fouled e.g. shirt pull, I blow for a free kick. Just after the whistle has gone for the foul, the players have not had time to react yet and another defender slides in on the attacker and commits what would be deemed serious foul play. How would this be dealt with? Would it be ignored because I had already blew for a minor foul, or would it be dealt with because the whistle hadn't gone for a restart in play following the first foul?

Thanks.
 
The Referee Store
1. It can be. A permanent fixture on the ground is generally not outside interference. It makes the ground a non-complaint one. Your competition rules may say what to do. Other ways to deal with it is a throw in (as if the ball is gone out of play - similar to Futsal when the ball hits the roof) or stop play only if any contact impacts the flight of the ball. Whatever you do make sure everyone know how you would deal with it before kick-off and be consistent.

2. It's definitely a red card. It's debatable if you would report it as SFP or VC. I would err on the side of SFP because in his mind he was challenging for the ball. Explain the circumstances in your report (if you have to write a description) so that it is clear what you went for SFP.
 
I class a branch of a tree as 'Outside Interference'. Same as a guide wire for nets on 4G pitches
The list of examples under Outside Interference is not exclusive, because e.g. is indicated
 
There are two possible ways to handle it. As @one says, the most important thing is to tell everyone before the game starts.

Option 1 is to consider it interference, in which case the only possible restart is a DB.

Option 2 is to conciser it part of the field, just like a mud puddle or a sprinkler head. If that is the option being used, it is advisable for the referee to call "keep playing" when it hits, at least the first couple of times, especially in kids games.

The old USSF Advice to Referees said to use option 2 for tree branches. But I think it is common for rules of competition to address the issue when there is a field in use that has this issue. (I've reffed on a couple of such fields, and for each option 2 was what was consistently used on the field.)
 
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