Player holding head injury then goal seconds later.

[Jason_Referee]

I was refereeing last weekend in a U18 game, top 2 teams in the league facing each other.

There was a corner where the ball has been put in the box, it's an almighty scramble, a defending player has gone down holding his head on the goal line, the GK was on the floor also.
I didn't see a foul from what I had seen.
The ball has ended up at the back post where the attacking player has set it back to the penalty spot, this is when I saw a defending player down holding his head and then a millisecond later the attacking player has put the ball in the net, goal given.
I was met with complaints and outrage from the defending teams players and the manager for not stopping the game for a head injury.
The GK and the player who collided with the post, were the only players that didn't complain. The player said he collided head first into the post afterwards when I spoke to him.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

 

[Archer]

This thread has some discussion about a similar situation:

A

Thread 'GK injury (no contact) as striker shoots and scores'

Jan 19, 2025

Women's step 5 game today. Will describe as best I can recall and then say what the Veo footage showed. Corner comes to nothing, gets recycled by attacking team who load it into the area. Keeper comes but hesitates as defender gets there first and loops a header up with the ball remaining in the 18 yard box. I am vaguely aware in my peripheral vision that the keeper has stumbled (no contact whatsoever) and has gone down. At what I felt was the same moment, a striker laces the ball into the net. Once defenders see the GK down they're screaming the goal should be disallowed. To be...

• Athers
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Match Incidents

 

[RefereeX]

Horrible situation, because one thing we don't want is to encourage a situation where players think that going down and holding their head will get the game stopped when the other team are attacking.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, stopping the game for a serious injury / head injury is NOT to prevent a team defending a man down, it's to get that player urgent treatment if they need it urgently. If you fail to stop the game for a head injury and it turns out the player is in a bad way and you've delayed their treatment, then the team may be within their rights to be angry. If you fail to stop the game for a head injury and that team concede but the player turns out to be fine, they do not have any right to be angry at you, as this isn't the purpose of stopping the game.

That's the moral side of the argument out the way.... but in reality, if there is time to react and you think the player may be seriously hurt, it's always better to stop the game, but you need a clear opportunity to do so when you are, at worst, stopping a promising attack. If you stop an OGSO for an injury, then it's going to be just as controversial as not stopping it, if not more so, at which point you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't and you just have to do what feels right.