A&H

Bizarre one today - what do you think?

:eek::eek: I'd say a big hole on the pitch is definitely a safety issue!!!

The 'technically correct' answer of 'outside interference' when hitting these extra bits of metal risks turning the game into an absolute farce - and can completely change the result of the match. Numerous drop balls in the 6 yard area can easily lead to goals, penalties, cards...a whole lot of nonsense nobody wants.

The laws have no answer for what to do when you've played on a technically illegal pitch.

I'd suggest this is one area where 2 wrongs do make a right - awarding a GK/CK at least has zero impact on the match. The only time it changes anything is if you do it when the ball hits the bottom of the additional bar (we always ruled that we play it safe - if it looks like it might have touched the extra bit at all, it's out), or if it's travelling along the line an hasn't gone out before hitting it. But you're going to apply a ruling consistently. So the absolute worst case scenario is that there may (but almost certainly won't) be 1 or 2 times when you're calling it out when it could, on a very slim chance, have come back in.

Sure, you're breaking a law. But the situation only came up because you broke a law to play the game.
So are we going to minimise the issue, or compound it?
Good thing the LOTG now tell us to consider the spirit of the game when we're applying the laws :)
 
The Referee Store
The IFAB's Laws of the Game have no specific provision for this so it's unclear what exactly a referee is supposed to do here. This is a common situation in the US, especially in High School games where the schools often use the same field for both American Football and Association Football games. Under NFHS rules, the referee should establish a 'ground rule' specifying what will happen if the ball hits the grid iron posts above the crossbar. According to a colleague who is on the NFHS Rules Committee, "The common ground rule is that the ball is dead and a corner kick or goal kick is awarded."

That sounds like as good a solution as any, to me - although he did mention that he has also come across ground rules that specify either a dropped ball or playing on, as the outcome (these being more rare, however).
 
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