Unsporting from Drop Ball

[Ben448844]

If you're really, really sharp (and that would probably mean having anticipated these events before they happened) and really, really wanted to find a way to stop play you could do this, I suppose.

The alternative, along the same lines of 'inventing' a solution by saying something happened, but which is probably closer to being true (and which has been proposed in the many previous discussions we've had on this subject) is to say that you've just realised the ball wasn't dropped in the correct location.

This one, although still a stretch for me, is actually a more tenable legal fiction than saying the ball didn't hit the ground. Saying the ball didn't hit the ground on the exact blade of grass that it should have done, is probably actually true in the majority of cases, it's just that is the kind of trivial or dubious technicality that we routinely overlook.

Earlier on this season I wrote on here about stopping the game for an injury, one team declaring that they'd play the ball back for the keeper (I didn't tell them what to do as I know the law), i drop the ball which is played towards the keeper and a striker nips in and scores (this was clearly not planned by the man who passed the ball as he was furious with the striker). I allow the goal as they've done nothing wrong in law, it was just pathetic sportsmanship and not in keeping with the game itself. This team was losing 4-0 and the striker thought he was being funny and having a joke, it was all really odd. Anyway,it all calmed down after I got the skippers together.

I did think on the way home how I'd prevent that situation happening again. Now I often drop the ball at the strikers feet, as he is the furthest forward and unlikely to pass backwards to another player to then run in and score. He probably won't know the law anyway so even if he does decide to be stupid and score (this was the first time I'd seen anything like this and I've been involved in well over 1000 matches) the goal would be disallowed as the ball hasn't touched anyone else.

What I would say is that it's quite easy to say what we'd do on this forum, when it happened to me by the time is registered and understood what was going on the striker was having his shot. Lesson learned for me (and the striker who would have been on the end of some nasty retribution against alot of teams in the local Sunday League).

 

[one]

I allow the goal as they've done nothing wrong in law,

just pathetic sportsmanship and not in keeping with the game itself.

If I read that second quote as being unsporting then the first quote doesn't quite add up.

The only difference between that and a striker telling a defender to leave it from behind (pretending to be a team mate) so he can get the ball and score is that the law has made the latter a mandatory caution but has left the former for you to decide.

I agree that it's easy to say in a forum what you'd do and what the options are etc etc but when it actually happens to you it's a completely different story.

 

[Ben448844]

If I read that second quote as being unsporting then the first quote doesn't quite add up.

The only difference between that and a striker telling a defender to leave it from behind (pretending to be a team mate) so he can get the ball and score is that the law has made the latter a mandatory caution but has left the former for you to decide.

I agree that it's easy to say in a forum what you'd do and what the options are etc etc but when it actually happens to you it's a completely different story.

You raise a good point and I see how my wording is hypocritical. I just feel it's really difficult to quantify his actions as unsportsmanlike when you consider that as a ref I am no longer able to tell the players what to do. Before the law change, it's an easy yellow for USB as I'd have instructed the player loudly to give it back to the keeper. The fact of the matter is as a level 7, I believe I'm a stronger ref with a bit more authority/law knowledge than many who are starting the same journey due to my lifelong involvement in the game and confidence etc but on reflection, I don't have the skills that many more experienced and better refs have when dealing with situations out of the ordinary and that was my big learn in all of this.

Personally I'd like to be able to instruct the teams what to do for an injury related drop ball to help in these situations

 

[Russell Jones]

My favourite choice of stopping play for an invented reason is to check if the ball is defective. You can use it in all situations.

This is absolute genius . Especially if you've just done a drop ball, then completely works to say that you 'thought it sounded funny when it hit the ground' and make a big show of thoroughly checking the ball before again restarting with a drop ball .. in the process stopping the UB by the attacker in it's tracks. Please lord let me remember this quickly enough should a situation like this arise in one of my games

 

[one]

You raise a good point and I see how my wording is hypocritical. I just feel it's really difficult to quantify his actions as unsportsmanlike when you consider that as a ref I am no longer able to tell the players what to do. Before the law change, it's an easy yellow for USB as I'd have instructed the player loudly to give it back to the keeper. The fact of the matter is as a level 7, I believe I'm a stronger ref with a bit more authority/law knowledge than many who are starting the same journey due to my lifelong involvement in the game and confidence etc but on reflection, I don't have the skills that many more experienced and better refs have when dealing with situations out of the ordinary and that was my big learn in all of this.

Personally I'd like to be able to instruct the teams what to do for an injury related drop ball to help in these situations

My intention was not to make it sound as a hypocritical comment but to prove that you have a good case for USB and the line of thought for "there is nothing wrong in law" is incorrect.

Anyway, what makes it unsporting is not that they have gone against your instructions, it's that they said they'd do something so that the defenders wont challenge and then took advantage of the defenders' good will. This would be the same before the law change or after it and considered unsporting by whomever who know anything about the spirit of the game.

 

[one]

This is absolute genius . Especially if you've just done a drop ball, then completely works to say that you 'thought it sounded funny when it hit the ground' and make a big show of thoroughly checking the ball before again restarting with a drop ball .. in the process stopping the UB by the attacker in it's tracks. Please lord let me remember this quickly enough should a situation like this arise in one of my games

Glad you like it. Some other good use cases for it are:
- You want to give a player a public warning (mild dissent etc) but you don't want to wait for the ball to go out of play.
- You know if a player gets the ball a revenge tackle form an opponent is coming and the ball is still in play. You want to have a quite chat with the opponent before he does something stupid.
- Two players are going at each other without committing any offence. You know its only a matter of time before they start WW3 and the ball is staying in play.
For fairness you would only stop the game in a reasonably neutral position. I have used it for two of those.

 

[Ben448844]

My intention was not to make it sound as a hypocritical comment but to prove that you have a good case for USB and the line of thought for "there is nothing wrong in law" is incorrect.

Anyway, what makes it unsporting is not that they have gone against your instructions, it's that they said they'd do something so that the defenders wont challenge and then took advantage of the defenders' good will. This would be the same before the law change or after it and considered unsporting by whomever who know anything about the spirit of the game.

The problem I see with "they" is that it was an individual who said they'd play it back and a different player who nipped in and scored. It's just a difficult situation whichever way you look at it