The Ref Stop

Drop Ball restart location

Russell Jones

Russell Jones

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I'd welcome thoughts / help on the correct location for the drop ball restart in various situations. I find the wording of Law 8 a little confusing, potentially contradictory and leading to game management challenges .. but maybe it's just one too many Rum ****tails over Christmas :). Here's where I got to ......

1) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - play is stopped for an injury with ball clearly going to Blue team --> Drop ball to Red in penalty area
2) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - hits outside agent in Centre Circle --> Drop ball to Red in Centre Circle
3) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - deflects off Blue attacker just outside area, hits outside agent in Centre Circle --> Drop ball to Blue in Centre Circle
4) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - deflects off Blue attacker just outside area then play is stopped for injury --> Drop ball to Blue just outside area
5) Red Defender clears ball from just outside penalty area - ball hits referee in Centre Circle and falls to Blue team --> Drop ball to Red in Centre Circle

I appreciate that some of these scenarios can be 'managed', either by judicious timing of the whistle or even by going with a safe 'what football expects' rather than pedantically applying Law. However, at this stage, I'm just trying to ensure I'm crystal clear on the strict Law approach :)
 
The Ref Stop
I haven't looked at the wording of the law to confirm, but it sounds to me you are correct on all 5 counts.

It you want to make it more complex, add ball going out of play after some of the scenarios that cause the DB.

Edit: confirmed after double checking with the Laws 8 and 9.

The scenarios i was referring to:

6. Ball cleard by blue team, ball clearly going to blue team mate but hits the referee and goes out of play. -> play restarts with a TI to red team.
 
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Russell Jones said:
I'd welcome thoughts / help on the correct location for the drop ball restart in various situations. I find the wording of Law 8 a little confusing, potentially contradictory and leading to game management challenges .. but maybe it's just one too many Rum ****tails over Christmas :). Here's where I got to ......

1) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - play is stopped for an injury with ball clearly going to Blue team --> Drop ball to Red in penalty area
2) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - hits outside agent in Centre Circle --> Drop ball to Red in Centre Circle
3) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - deflects off Blue attacker just outside area, hits outside agent in Centre Circle --> Drop ball to Blue in Centre Circle
4) Red Defender clears ball from own penalty area - deflects off Blue attacker just outside area then play is stopped for injury --> Drop ball to Blue just outside area
5) Red Defender clears ball from just outside penalty area - ball hits referee in Centre Circle and falls to Blue team --> Drop ball to Red in Centre Circle

I appreciate that some of these scenarios can be 'managed', either by judicious timing of the whistle or even by going with a safe 'what football expects' rather than pedantically applying Law. However, at this stage, I'm just trying to ensure I'm crystal clear on the strict Law approach :)
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All correct, despite the mocktails😝😁
 
I had a situation in a youth game recently where a home supporting parent stopped the ball from going out of play on the touchline to save time... it was a TI to the opposition. But because they stopped the ball it technically should have been a drop ball to the last team that touched it which was the home team. I continued with the throw-in as I wasn't going to give a drop ball on the line to the home side. Another reason why parents/carers/whoever shouldn't be on the pitchside.
 
#4 I think smart refereeing is DB to red GK in the box. Why? The referee decides when play is stopped. Yes, the whistle is a signal. But the referee decides. You can decide play was already stopped.
 
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RefereeX said:
Try telling this to the observer I had a couple of months ago...
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If you had dropped to the blue team outside the area, that same observer would have told you smart refereeing would be to drop to the keeper.

There is no pleasing in some observers. Plus, the have to have something to say and some look for the negatives rather than the positives.
 
JamesL said:
According to ifab the ball is in play until the whistle is blown.

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Is that really true? If so, then if the whistle hasn’t blown yet for, say, offside, the ball would still be in play when a foul subsequently occurred. This seems a facile answer from IFAB that is inconsistent with decades of tradition—and not expressed in the Laws. Nothing in the Laws actually says it is when the whistle is blown.
 
socal lurker said:
Is that really true? If so, then if the whistle hasn’t blown yet for, say, offside, the ball would still be in play when a foul subsequently occurred. This seems a facile answer from IFAB that is inconsistent with decades of tradition—and not expressed in the Laws. Nothing in the Laws actually says it is when the whistle is blown.
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Your example would be covered by order of offences.

But in general I agree with you. I just like to wheel this one out as it pops up every now and again.
 
one said:
Can you share the question for this answer please.
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Hello

When a referee stops play, when is play considered as stopped?

Is it when the referee blows the whistle, or is play stopped once the referee decides he is stopping play and the whistle indicates this?

For example, if a player is injured and the referee decides he needs to stop play; at this point the last player to touch the ball was from Team A. In the time between deciding to stop play and blowing the whistle the ball touches a player from Team B. Who should get the restart?

It is not clear from laws or guidelines which of these events take precedent. In some cases the whistle is not needed to stop play, and there are some cases where it is required, so my take from that is that play can be stopped without the whistle and so the restart is based on when the referee decides to stop, rather than when he is able to indicate it with the whistle.

Can you confirm?
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I posed this question following a game between Nottingham Forest and I think Liverpool which had a controversy surrounding when play was stopped and whom the restart should have gone to.
 
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JamesL said:
I posed this question following a game between Nottingham Forest and I think Liverpool which had a controversy surrounding when play was stopped and whom the restart should have gone to.
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I will add, IIRC, the only reason it was controversial was that Liverpool scored from the resulting play after the ball was dropped to their keeper when in law it should have been dropped to Forest. Had Liverpool not scored from the same piece of possession, nobody would have batted an eyelid.
 
Really don't wanna go there again but can't resist it.

IFAB: "The answer may be found in Law 9" then immediately follow it with something that is NOT in law 9.

JamesL said:
Your example would be covered by order of offences.
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How about if the first event is not an offence, like outside interference. Then we have conflicting laws.
A more prudent example is if keeper catches a cross, has a headclash with own player, passes out and drops the ball. By the time referee blows for injury, ball roles into the goal. What is IFAB's decision?
I think previous emails would suggest they would say to use the spirit of the game 😅
 
Homer Ref said:
I had a situation in a youth game recently where a home supporting parent stopped the ball from going out of play on the touchline to save time... it was a TI to the opposition. But because they stopped the ball it technically should have been a drop ball to the last team that touched it which was the home team. I continued with the throw-in as I wasn't going to give a drop ball on the line to the home side. Another reason why parents/carers/whoever shouldn't be on the pitchside.
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This is where the "respect barrier" comes into it's own. It would help if they were made mandatory, at least for youth football.
 
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