Only 7 players

[SM]

Hypothetical question posed by a work colleague which got me thinking.

A team with a bare 7 players have a man go down injured clutching his head and you stop the game so he can get treatment. He then leaves the fop as per lotg.

Scenarios:

1) he is obviously okay after a quick bit of sponge action and requests you wave him back on as soon as the game restarts

2) it is not clear that he will be coming back on, has a cut to be sorted out before he would be ready anyway.

The lotg state the game cannot continue if a team has fewer than 7 players, does he still count towards the 7 if he is not on the fop but hasn't been taken off?

Got me thinking. Thoughts?

 

[Charlie Jones]

this is a really interesting one, and one that ive thought about myself before ... I think I would talk to the manager of the said team and captain, if they wanted to continue until he is ready then fine, or if it was unlikely he would come back id call an end to the game

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

Used to be in the old Q&A. He's still a player, even though he's temporarily off the field, so he's still one of the seven. You allow him a reasonable amount of time.


If you run into the situation where the manager keeps saying 'he'll come back on' and you know he won't you might be forced into a decision there...

EDIT: AlexF has provided the correct information - game cannot resume while player is off the field.

 

[mikedn]

Used to be in the old Q&A. He's still a player, even though he's temporarily off the field, so he's still one of the seven. You allow him a reasonable amount of time.

If you run into the situation where the manager keeps saying 'he'll come back on' and you know he won't you might be forced into a decision there...

I agree, as soon as i know that he won't be able to play, then i would abandon the game.

 

[AlexF]

The old Q&A (and indeed some of the FIFA LotG quizzes) stated essentially as above:
* You do not restart the game until the player is able to return to the field of play
* If the play is unable to return, then the game shall be abandoned.*

That was rolled into the Laws themselves (pg 68 of 15/16) as follows:

If a team has fewer than seven players because one or more players has deliberately left the field of play, the referee is not obliged to stop the match and the advantage may be played. In such cases, the referee must not allow the match to resume after the ball has gone out of play if a team does not have the minimum number of seven players.

Of course, LotG dictate that we must _start_ with 7, but rules of competition can override the minimum number to continue as per pg 68 of the 15/16 edition (just before the section above):

Although a match may not START if either team consists of fewer than seven players, the minimum number of players in a team required for a match to CONTINUE is left to the discretion of member associations. However, it is the opinion of the International F.A. Board that a match should not continue if there are fewer than seven players in either team.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

You're correct Alex - I was wrong!

A player, from a team with only seven players, leaves the fi eld of play to receive medical attention. What action does the referee take? The match will stop until this player has received treatment and returns to the fi eld of play. If he is unable to return, the match is abandoned, unless the member association has decided otherwise with regard to the minimum number of players.

http://shrewsburyyouthsoccer.com/docs/FIFA-Q&As.pdf

There's the old 2006 Q&A

 

[AlexF]

Thanks for finding the Q&A text. I couldn't find that in short order so had to go from memory!

 

[SM]

So, just to summarise - you stop the game until you know he is ready to come back on - He then only comes back on after the game restarts and the players receives the signal from the referee