Substitution Error

[Mattybuz]

Hi Folks.

General advice / reassurance needed, as its got me a bit chewed up.

I had an u15 girls game yesterday, where the result ended up being 5-4 in favour of the away team.

The home manager has messaged me this afternoon, informing me that on the 58th minute, the away team made a sub, but apparently the player didn't go off. In turn, it ended up being 11 on 12. The away team manager made home aware (I do not know if this was during or post game). I am aware that we are responsible for the execution of the subs, whereas the manager is responsible for notifying the ref before the sub is being made.

However, I don't recall either a) the sub being made or even too many players being on the pitch. Apparently the home team were leading 4-3 at the time, so there would have been prior opportunity to notice.

I am obviously quite distraught about this, but would welcome some honest feedback. Is it a case of me completely messing up? Or, based on what I've mentioned, there has been miscommunication?

The away team have reported this for the FA to sort, but I am just worried how this may impact on me as a ref and relations with both teams.

 

[es1]

I think at this point you also need to report this to the fa as an extraordinary incident. They can sort out it all out (any questions doing this reply here!).

It's not an ideal situation obviously but if you're not made aware of the sub at the time, you can't do much about it. Counting players mid match isn't practical or expected so I don't think you can be expected to notice, you're relying on someone calling it out and letting you know mid match.

 

[RustyRef]

I think at this point you also need to report this to the fa as an extraordinary incident. They can sort out it all out (any questions doing this reply here!).

It's not an ideal situation obviously but if you're not made aware of the sub at the time, you can't do much about it. Counting players mid match isn't practical or expected so I don't think you can be expected to notice, you're relying on someone calling it out and letting you know mid match.

Agree, best to report that there may have been an error, puts you on the front foot and shows that you are taking it seriously. Just say you were alerted by a club but didn't see the additional player on the pitch yourself.

I think you'd only potentially face a sanction if there was an additional player on at half time, on the basis you should be counting players at the start of each half. No one can realistically expect referees to keep counting players throughout the game. A lot will also probably depend on whether there is video footage, as without that it is likely going to be very difficult to do anything about it.

 

[JamesL]

I'm struggling to see why this wasn't raised at the time, and later raised after the match.

If you weren't aware of a change being made then it shouldn't have been done. This is why it's really important to, even with rolling, have a mechanism to record sub events, who has/hasn't played and who should/shouldn't be on the pitch.

 

[RustyRef]

I'm struggling to see why this wasn't raised at the time, and later raised after the match.

If you weren't aware of a change being made then it shouldn't have been done. This is why it's really important to, even with rolling, have a mechanism to record sub events, who has/hasn't played and who should/shouldn't be on the pitch.

Agree, all I can think of is was being filmed and was picked up after the game, otherwise I can't see why it wasn't flagged at the time.

 

[Mattybuz]

Well I've spoken to the home team manager, and he just explained it was only picked up via video footage. He said not to worry, as it was noticed by anyone, including both managers, coaches, players and even the parents. I'll drop the local FA a line just for completion. I have a feeling it was when I was down myself. I had a hamstring issue which needed to be stretched out. This was on the far side of the field, where a throw in was due to take place. The timing of the event sounds right. Normally im quite hot and thorough with subs. Feel a bit better about it now.