Stop Play Flat Ball

[ByronCoach]

Hello to all, trust i find you all well.

Just a wonder after a incident i watched on Monday night at a Step 7 match.

Ball is on play and gets played across the pitch from RB to LW, ref then blows the whistle , no one in the ground or on the pitch can think why.. Ref then walks over to the ball has a feel of it and asks the sidelines to swap the ball and they throw on another ball to the ref, who then has a squeeze of the ball and gives a little head nod to the player it was with and then drops the ball and goes for a re-start..

Up roar from both the sidelines and both sets of players.. He then talks to two players and they restart with a drop ball which the defending team as it would have been knock back to the then was attacking teams keeper.


My question is.. is this allowed, can the game be stopped at any point if a ball is flat or thought to be flat, and was the ref right to award a drop ball or as he was going to do allow the play to continue !!

 

[Cheshire Ref]

Hi Byron, yes the referee is well with in his rights to stop the game if he believes the ball to be defective and yes he restarted play in the correct way. However, would I be stopping play in the situation you have explained, no. I have usually found that if the ball is "flat" or defective you know about it pretty quickly as 22 players will be telling you. I personally would be waiting for a break in play to check the ball.

 

[Jack M]

I have always been told that once a ball is deflated, it is no longer a legal ball and must be replaced immediately

 

[Cheshire Ref]

I have always been told that once a ball is deflated, it is no longer a legal ball and must be replaced immediately

Yes that's right, but in this case it appears that none of the players had mentioned it and referee decided to stop play, if the players are moaning then by all means stop play but if there all happy then get on with it, their the ones kicking it.

 

[jofusref]

hi byron the referee was well within his rights to do what he did

 

[CO. DOWN REF]

I have always been told that once a ball is deflated, it is no longer a legal ball and must be replaced immediately

Law 18 does however suggest .....

 

[YorkshireReferee]

I have always been told that once a ball is deflated, it is no longer a legal ball and must be replaced immediately

If the ball is deflated to the extent that I want play stopped immediately, it's probably been quite a sudden deflation.

More often than not, what I encounter is the odd player moaning about it been a little too flat or a little too hard but the rest of the players are happy with it. In that situation, at the next stoppage I'll re-check the ball and take any appropriate action. More often than not, it's telling the player that there's no problem with the ball.

 

[Mick.]

I can heartily recommend investing in a pressure gauge. I use mine to check the balls every game (is a squeeze a good indication?). This invariably gets seen by players and when they moan in a game that it is too hard/soft I can tell them that I have checked the pressure and it is fine. Other players will then confirm that they have seen me check. I find it helps a lot. It also never surprises me the number of under inflated balls that I get presented with at the start of a match.

 

[RegalRef]

I have always been told that once a ball is deflated, it is no longer a legal ball and must be replaced immediately

The wording of what you say is quite correct.

But there is a difference between deflated (eg no air whatsoever) and one that is too soft (I.e. Still inflated, albeit not to the correct pressure tolerances).

A soft ball as described check at the next break in play.

A deflated ball (absolutely no air whatsoever) you have no choice but to stop the game as it literally cannot be played with.

The only variance to this is if ball becomes defective in one of two other ways:
- outer casing starts to unravel/peel and has loose or torn parts (dangerous)
- the inner tube comes out from the inside and develops a "nipple", although stays inflated

In either of these cases game should be stopped and ball checked/replaced. Although you would do well to spot either of these while the ball was moving in play unless excessive.

Always remember @ByronCoach, if the game is stopped for any reason while the ball is in play, and no offence has been committed by any player on either team the correct restart is a drop ball.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

Hi Byron,

It's unusual, but only because you usually can't tell it's flat while in play with enough certainty to justify stopping play.

10 years ago there existed a document, 'Questions and Answers to the Laws of the Game'. Provided answers for a number of potential scenarios and law interpretations.

There was the example in there of a kick being taken, the ball going flat in mid-air and winding up in the goal (let's say, the ball exploded and was quite clearly flat). As the ball was no longer meeting the requirements of the laws, it was impossible to award the goal, so a drop ball would be awarded.

Therefore, what the referee did was 100% within the laws of the game - even what the laws expect, if he was certain it was flat.

At a drop ball, there is no requirement for any number of players. 0-22 players can be in attendance. While the referee cannot prevent a player from taking part, he can engineer the restart. He can't, for instance, prevent a Red player from participating...but he can drop it before the red player has the chance to participate (say, when play is stopped while in the Blue keeper's hands). That way fairness is satisfied within the LOTG. Sounds like that's what the referee did here - it's peculiar that people blew up when by dropping it to the player in possession, the referee is simply ensuring that the incident has had almost no impact upon play.