[ayso45-refs] U-11 goal kick and substitution situation

[Tom Rudkin]

Randy has given a very lengthy and thorough logical analysis of what must 
have happened in the match, and he has given maximum benefit of the doubt to 
the referee (which is the right and proper thing to do, especially since 
most of us weren't even there), and yet concludes that (at least one) 
referee mistake must have happened.  I agree.

I suppose we could just ask the referee in question what actually happened, 
but by now he/she must be totally overwhelmed by the number of emails 
questioning the incident.  I wouldn't blame him/her for staying under cover 
(I know that's what I would have done when I was a less experienced 
referee).

But I think the take-aways from this discussion are not "what actually 
happened during this match and what might the referee have been thinking?" 
but what lessons about the Laws of the Game and about prudent referee 
procedures can we learn.

On the procedural front, several people have pointed out that the referee 
team needs to hold up restart of play after a substitution until the 
substitution is completed.  A good topic for a pizza night discussion would 
be some of the dos and don'ts about substitutions (and what shortcuts you 
might reasonably take in a U11 match that you should never take in an 
upper-level match).

On the Law front, there are at least 2 take-aways from this discussion. 
Whether or not the referee actually made either of these mistakes, we should 
all learn from this discussion that:

(1) Any time an incident occurs that demands the referee to intervene (such 
as improper substitution) while the ball was not in play, the restart is the 
same as it was before the referee intervention: there are no cases in soccer 
where the restart changes for an out-of-play incident (unlike say 
basketball, where a free throw can be awarded due to a technical foul while 
the ball was about to be thrown in).  (And:  don't forget that the ball is 
not on play on a goal kick until it has left the penalty area having been 
properly kicked.)

(2) An indirect free kick for the attacking team (i.e. an IFK "going in") is 
never taken inside the goal area; if the location of the infraction was 
inside the goal area, then the kick is taken from the line at the front of 
the goal area "straight out" from where the incident occurred.  (See the 
section "Special Circumstances" in Law 8 for a more precise description.)

Hope this helps,
Tom Rudkin