Goalkeeper delaying restart?

[DazN]

My son plays in goal for a decent u12 side and there was a minor incident towards the end of his game yesterday that saw him in trouble with the ref. (I was on the line as CAR as I'm currently nursing an injury)

As a bit of backstory, three weeks ago, at 2-1 up, the away team equalized. After picking the ball up from his net, the lad who had scored ran up towards him to grab the ball and so he turned his back with the ball in his arms, which prompted the lad to push him in the back. The ref gave the lad a caution. We restarted with a kick from the centre.

This week, in the second half, his team were winning 3-1 and the away team scored to make it 3-2 (plenty of time left in the game). As he was retrieving the ball from his net, two of the away team rushed up to him and tried to snatch the ball away from him, to which he (somewhat stupidly) tried to keep hold of it again. He later said the boys were both swearing at him to 'give us the f****** ball' and the away coach was shouting telling the ref that 'he can't do that ref!'. The ref approached my son and gave him a stern talking to. This didn't go down too well and he almost ended up getting himself in more trouble for protesting about the other boys' behaviour.

What would be the correct course of action in this kind of situation? As a volunteer ref I used to just stay near the goal and use my whistle at the first sign of any silliness, but now I am 'official' I wonder if I should be acting differently?

Is not giving the ball back to the other team immediately after a goal considered a delay of the restart?

 

[CaptainsPlease]

The restart is a kick off to the team that conceded the goal, so the team that just scored has no right to demand the ball.
If the team that conceded is delaying the restart then player(s) responsible can be penalised, and it is the referee's responsibility to add time as appropriate.
Practically if players of the scoring team are trying to grab the ball after the keeper has already picked it up etc then I would say those players should be warned or cautioned as appropriate as the timeliness of the restart is between the team taking the restart and yourself.

 

[Martiju]

I think being proactive is often the answer to these things, so they don't get out of hand. Staying near the goal and using your voice (and/or whistle, though not normally necessary) is my answer. I want to attacking players rushing in to grab the ball and also to prevent goalkeepers blocking it and causing escalation. By being there and taking control you're showing that you won't allow unnecessary delay but also that you won't allow manhandling of players to retrieve the ball.