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A player about to be substituted refuses to leave the field of play. What decision should the referee take?

newref

Active Member
A player about to be substituted refuses to leave the field of play. What decision should the referee take? According to the law, should he caution the player AND/OR play on?
 
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Play on. While there is some irony that the referee can caution a player for leaving too slowly, but not for refusing to leave, the referee cannot force a player to go off for a sub. I don't recall if that still lurks in the magic book, but it was in the old IFAB Q&A, and nothing has changed in the laws that would change the answer.

(Going sideways . . . so the next time a player is carded for leaving too slowly, perhaps he should say "No, no, I'm not leaving slowly, I'm not leaving."...)
 
Law 3, Part 3. "If the player who is to be substituted refuses to leave, play continues."

That's it. They refuse to be subbed, so they're not subbed, and everybody carries on. Team tactical decisions and players ignoring instructions from their team are not yours to make or enforce or resolve. The laws are, and I think perhaps you aren't reading them thoroughly or often enough.
 
Any deliberate action that a player takes that causes the restart to be delayed can be judged by the referee that way and cautioned for it. Including tie OP and @socal lurker 's scenario. Obviously if the sub genuinely doesn't want to come off then it would be a harsh caution but if they are using it as a tactic to waste time, I'd caution it. Saying play continues doesn't exclude the possibility of a caution.
 
I would have to disagree. For me, the only way it could be taken as an attempt to delay the restart is if the player, after refusing to come off for an extended period, then has an apparent and otherwise inexplicable change of mind and does leave after all. If they just immediately and flatly refuse to leave, play should continue. I would say a caution is not justifiable unless there's some kind of overwhelmingly obvious evidence of it being a ploy, which I reckon would be quite unusual.
 
Any deliberate action that a player takes that causes the restart to be delayed can be judged by the referee that way and cautioned for it. Including tie OP and @socal lurker 's scenario. Obviously if the sub genuinely doesn't want to come off then it would be a harsh caution but if they are using it as a tactic to waste time, I'd caution it. Saying play continues doesn't exclude the possibility of a caution.

I was (I thought obviously) being tongue-in-cheek about the player using it as an excuse. But I agree with @Peter Grove that you absolutely cannot caution for the player refusing to come out. The law (thanks @Nij is black and white on this: play continues. The player has a right to not come off, and we don't have the right to change that into a delay tactic. (Well, a right under the Laws . . . as far as with his club, that's a whole nother story....)
 
There comes a point where as a referee, you need to go to the player, clarify that he has no intention of coming off and then get on with the game. Once it clear the substitution isn't going to happen, any delay is your fault.
 
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