A&H

Lesson learnt

one

RefChat Addict
Decent ladies game on weekend and 5 minutes in at a corner stoppage I notice a player wearing what looks like a watch under a long sleeve undershirt (yes it was the same colour as the shirt). I asked her to show me what the it is and it's a fitness watch. She apologised claimed she forgot to take it off.I say fair enought but you have to leave the field to take it off and wait for me to let you back on.

She runs to the touchline tech area , takes the watch off on the way, hands it to the coach and runs back. I am 40 yards away and and shout, no you have to get off the filed. Once she is off I shout stay off untill I signal you back on (and with that I use the body language of how the signal looks like).

Once I made sure she is staying off I turn and ask for the corner to be taken. Kick taken and cleared towards half way and wipped back in by the player who supposed to be off the field, now about 10 yard in. I stop play and caution. She looked a little confused but did not say anything. The coach standing near touchline says she came back on after you signaled her to come back on. I am reasonably sure the signal had nothing to do with it and both the coach and player understood me well (she stayed off untill I turned around). But I am not going to use the Boddy language next time to avoid confusion.
 
The Referee Store
Fundamentally you should really have picked this up during pre match inspection but we've all been caught out and in this case perhaps excusable as it was under clothing. From similar experience I've learnt to state clearly to players as they go off that they cannot re-enter the field until I have come across and checked that the offending item has been removed (I don't usually officiate with ARs).
 
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