Quick FKs

[volt177]

Situation is this:
Foul committed around the halfway line, called for free kick. Before I can even get my book out to caution, the ball has been played quickly from the free-kick and the attacking team are through on goal in a 1v1.

Caught off guard slightly I whistled for the ball to come back so I could properly caution but upon further thought should I have let the quick play go and come back to caution once out of play?

My communication in the moment could've been better, and law 5 section 2 encourages referees decisions "in the spirit of the game", which I can't help but feel might've applied here.

Any input?

 

[Runner-Ref]

If they take a quick free kick, technically you can allow play to continue and administer the caution at the next break in play, as long as you haven't started the discipline procedure. But you'd probably also need to take into account where play is, how the game has been going (has it been heated and needs to slow down etc)

Once the referee has decided to caution or send off a player, play must not be restarted until the sanction has been administered, unless the non-offending team takes a quick free kick, has a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the referee has not started the disciplinary sanction procedure. The sanction is administered at the next stoppage; if the offence was denying the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the player is cautioned; if the offence interfered with or stopped a promising attack, the player is not cautioned.

 

[GraemeS]

All the above is correct. But be really careful not to accidentally "trick" the defending team. A team committing a foul doesn't get many rights in my book in terms of stopping/allowing a QFK, but once you've got the book/card out or called the player over, you've impacted on their defensive organisation and so the QFK shouldn't be allowed.

In the situation you describe, it sounds very borderline. Did you give the defender any signal that he was going to be cautioned or had you simply blown for the foul and then the QFK was taken? If the latter, letting the game go and saying "that's still a caution at the next stoppage #4" (assuming it wasn't SPA) would have been arguably a better move.

You also have the justification of the FK being taken from the wrong spot or with a moving ball if players try to complain that they would have preferred the advantage. At least one of those will almost certainly have happened - and while we're often a little lenient on FK placement, being picky on these aspects will help sell a too-hasty denial of the QFK.

 

[RyantheRef]

I agree, in general terms, that allowing the QFK might have been the correct decision; but in the interest of "safe" refereeing and not making things harder on yourself, I would never fault a referee (well, not never but rarely and dependent on the level of the competition) for taking control of a situation wherein a caution is to be given and bringing it back to administer the caution in the orthodox way. So in that sense, unless I'm missing something major from your description, I don't have a problem with what you did at all.