Throwing Spray On

[Cgvii]

I had a strange incident today watching a grassroots game.

A home player was down injured and he refused for the ‘physio’ to come on. However, he got them to throw him spray and water to where he was down on the ground about 20 yards from the dugout towards center circle. He administered the spray himself and threw it back. The play was stopped during this time.
Once he’d thrown it back, the away team were calling for him to go off. The referee said no as he had not been ‘given’ treatment and restarted the game.

Could someone clarify what’s correct in this situation please? I would have thought if he’s delaying the restart for treatment, it doesn’t matter how he gets it or from whom and he has to go off? Maybe also an angle for a sanction for throwing an object onto the field too?

Any clarity given would be great. Thank you.

 

[ChasObserverRefDeveloper]

Experienced referees will normally try to manage situations like this, rather than an immediate card.
Throwing objects from the technical area onto the field is potentially at least a caution, so stopping that before it happens and explaining the potential offence would be a good start point.
The injured party then needs to get up and play, or receive treatment on or off the field.
Well done for raising the issue. Others will add their input for you.

 

[Cgvii]

Sure I get that and thank you for your response. But what happens if it’s just thrown to the player on the floor and he uses it. Then throws it back. Are you making him go off?
As you say, I feel a yellow card to the thrower might be an over reaction at grassroots in terms of game management.

 

[JamesL]

I don't think I would make him go off but I think I'd be looking to restart the game.

 

[CaptainsPlease]

Cautioning the thrower is potentially wrong in law, as deliberately throwing an object onto the field is a sending off offence. The only way for that to work is if it went down as delaying their own team's restart. I think it would be better to make the injured player go off as injuries should not be treated on the field. When refereeing alone, restarting immediately could be risky because of the presence of objects on the field which is now difficult to monitor with attention divided. With ARs I would be happier restarting immediately.

 

[Cgvii]

Just speaking generally about throwing items onto the pitch, doesn’t the intent and force dictate if it’s a yellow or red card? It’s not automatically a red card.

 

[CaptainsPlease]

Have you reviewed Law 12 team official offences? 'Deliberately throwing/kicking an object onto the field of play' is listed as a sending off offence. Now of course this is mainly intended for when the ball is in play, but if you caution the thrower for throwing an object onto the field of play and not some other reason then it is wrong in law.

 

[Cgvii]

Sorry I should have clarified it was a sub who threw it.

 

[CaptainsPlease]

OK for a sub then you can potentially caution them for delaying the restart but I'd be more inclined to sanction the injured player as the instigator of it all if I wasn't just restarting straight away.

 

[bester]

Player comes to the touchline during play and gets treated. No interference with play.

The player doesn't wholly leave the field of play, and the physio doesn't enter the field of play.

Is it allowed?

 

[CaptainsPlease]

If a player is not wholly outside the boundary lines they are considered to be on the field of play, so they cannot receive treatment.

 

[GraemeS]

For me, this qualifies as "being given treatment". He can get up under his own steam, or he can receive help - and if he receives help, he needs to go to the side. It's a much tidier solution than messing around with cautions for throwing things IMO.

 

[RefereeX]

Had a similar(ish) scenario when 4th man on a playoff game last season.

Two players head collision. One asks for treatment, the other declines it. Then while the first is receiving treatment the player who declined it ran over to his teams dugout, stayed on the pitch while the physio stayed off it and asked the physio to double check his head was fine (he had long hair so it involved a lot of hair moving to check for a cut.

Must admit I wasn't initially sure of the right outcome, but didn't tell the player he needed to leave and just the opposition player left. I could make arguments both ways.