Crewe goal

[ladbroke8745]

Player runs off naturally but when returning, he stops and stays off the field waiting for keeper to drop ball and pounce.
Yes. The keeper should be aware of surroundings but surely there is an offence there by deliberately staying off the field and deceiving the keeper.
Spirit of the game?

 

[RustyRef]

As you said, he went off the pitch naturally and I can't see anything in law that says he must return immediately. Whether spirit of the law or what the game expects, I suspect the vast majority of people in football would expect this to be a goal and just put it down to rank bad goalkeeping. Just look at the reaction of the Northampton defenders, there are no complaints to the referee.

My guess would be the majority of people would be calling the referee a jobsworth if he disallowed the goal, even more so as he's have to caution the scorer. Video here

https://twitter.com/x/status/2091195478385815757

 

[JD1]

I despise it but it cannot be ruled out.

There is not enough in the laws to argue that he has to come back onto the field of play within x amount of seconds

Unsporting yes, but he hasn't left deliberatly so theres nothing that can be done.

As a ref here you just take your choice of which hill you want to die on really

 

[Big Cat]

The pamphlet is not intended to cover every scenario
A player who crosses a boundary line as part of a playing movement does
not commit an offence.
I would indicate that this player is expected to return to the FOP without delay. If they delay their return unduly, they have left the FOP without the referee's permission, should be cautioned and the goal ruled out. That's without getting into the 'spirit of the game'
Ironically, this player did not need to remain off the FOP to achieve his objective. He could easily have taken a step forward

 

[JD1]

The pamphlet is not intended to cover every scenario
A player who crosses a boundary line as part of a playing movement does
not commit an offence.
I would indicate that this player is expected to return to the FOP without delay. If they delay their return unduly, they have left the FOP without the referee's permission, should be cautioned and the goal ruled out. That's without getting into the 'spirit of the game'
Ironically, this player did not need to remain off the FOP to achieve his objective. He could easily have taken a step forward

Its a great argument and one I would stick with if in the moment my 'heart' had chosen to disallow the goal, which I think I would have in real time.

I agree if a player chooses to not return to the FOP then he has effectively 'deliberatly left'

But fundamentally its flawed and wrong.

 

[one]

Keeping in mind USB is open ended.

Deceiving opponents can be considered smart playing and a skill or it can be considered USB (think Paradinha penalties before it came into law, or taking corner kicks but pretending to leave it for a team mate). In this case he has deliberately stayed off the field of play in order to deceive the keeper. For me it is USB. It would be a hard sell though.

 

[bester]

This is how to do it, slowly returning but not actively stopping

I think there was one when someone hid inside the goal but they were on the pitch slightly

As @Big Cat says just put a toe on the pitch and he porbably still wouldn't see you.

 

[JD1]

The worst part is when he goes to step on the field and hesitates to maintain his position off of it before running on.

Its proper s**tehousery

 

[RustyRef]

The pamphlet is not intended to cover every scenario
A player who crosses a boundary line as part of a playing movement does
not commit an offence.
I would indicate that this player is expected to return to the FOP without delay. If they delay their return unduly, they have left the FOP without the referee's permission, should be cautioned and the goal ruled out. That's without getting into the 'spirit of the game'
Ironically, this player did not need to remain off the FOP to achieve his objective. He could easily have taken a step forward

All fair points, I just don't think any referee at this level is going to create problems for themselves by disallowing a goal when there are zero complaints from the defending team, all their ire was aimed at the keeper. Even more so when it was for something that isn't specifically mentioned in law.

I'm very sure Pro Ref will fully back the referee on this one, not that they'll have to I suspect as Northampton seemingly have no issues with it.

 

[Ori]

I despise it but it cannot be ruled out.

There is not enough in the laws to argue that he has to come back onto the field of play within x amount of seconds

Unsporting yes, but he hasn't left deliberatly so theres nothing that can be done.

As a ref here you just take your choice of which hill you want to die on really

I think you could argue that when he hesitates to get back in he is now officially off the field of play and hence I would argue you fan caution for entering field play without permission.

Regardless equally can caution for unsporting behaviour l, unspecified.

 

[socal lurker]

IMO, there is a point at which delay or hiding gets to the level of USB. I don’t think this is remotely close to either of those lines. A professional GK should be embarrassed by being unaware of where opponents are. GK no more affected by where he was outside the playing area than if he had been 6” closer with his toe on the line.