Junior/Youth Keeper going down with 'private area' injury?

U14s league game

Team A takes a shot from outside the box, not hugely powerful. Team B keeper makes an awkward looking save, initially it looks like he just saved it with his hands. He stays on his feet for 3-4 seconds, then lies down on the floor holding his face. There was no head injury at all and nobody challenged him so no injury caused by anyone else. It became apparent afterwards that the ball hit him in his 'private area' and that's why he chose to put himself down on the ground.

Right after the save, the ball ends up 5-10 yards outside the box in possession of team A, who with the keeper lying on the floor end up scoring a goal.

The keeper is very vocally saying the game should have been stopped for him and the goal shouldn't stand.

What's the correct choice here?
A) Take it as a serious injury and stop the game as soon as I see him go down, then drop ball back to Team A on the edge of the box where they had possession

B) Play on, allow the goal and restart from kick off?

I'm also wondering what the correct procedure should be if this was in an adults game? I am taking into account that these are children playing youth football, but part of me is doubting that the game should stop for something like this - what if next time he saves it with his hands/legs, sees the opposition in possession close to his box and lies down again? Do we stop the game every time?

If the ball has entered the goal before stopping play and you don't feel a foul has been committed, then the goal stands.

As I've read your post, it sounds like the goalkeeper lies down around the same time as the shot? In that case I don't think you have much chance to stop play which is always a pain but that's how it's happened so that's what we've got to deal with.

With regards to A, if you spot the injury in time then yes I think this is spot on

As I've read your post (appreciate I might have misunderstood) B is the correct process.

I definitely think you're right to be conscious about injuries in youth football, particularly potential head/other serious injuries, and duty of care will always be paramount along with safeguarding.

If you feel that a player is milking it and going down every time there's a promising attack, then you do have scope to act (YC for simulation, USB, etc.) although I would be careful with this and make sure it's a clear and obvious act of USB if you're going down this route.

Ultimately, injuries and when the game stops (see other recent threads) are some of the more annoying intricacies of refereeing and we have a duty of care to the players. At the end of the day, in grassroots football we want everyone going home able to go to work (or school) on Monday, and although you might get a few grumbles from opposition players, the majority ought to be understanding of that.

Apologies for not clarifying, the timeline was save is made, 3-4 seconds pass after which time keeper lies down, then maybe 10 seconds later the goal is scored.

FC555 said:

Apologies for not clarifying, the timeline was save is made, 3-4 seconds pass after which time keeper lies down, then maybe 10 seconds later the goal is scored.

Click to expand...

In that case probably go with option A to be safer, but appreciate that in the heat of the moment it can be difficult to see everything going on. Ultimately it's down to you as the referee, but with this one I think you could go either way and justify it.