One comment by an assessor was to allow only one team official to stand at a time.

Is there any USSF requirement that players or coaches remain seated?

As a fourth official, can I demand that the players or coaches remain seated?

USSF answer (June 17, 2010:
The competition rules of NPSL do nor require team officials to stand one at a time, nor that they remain seated. The same applies to the published USSF indoor rules, probably because most facilities don’t always even have seats in the benches.

However, if the teams were playing outdoor soccer, the Law does require that only one team official at a time be standing in the technical area.

Question:
Could you help me settle an on-going discussion within our referee board?

Although the rules of the game and most local leagues are clear on adornments worn by players, there appears to be little ever said about adornments worn by referees. Specifically, earrings. Does US SOCCER or FIFA have any directives on this subject? I seem to remember seeing what I thought was an earring on an English Premier League game referee, or was I mistaken?

USSF answer (May 26, 2010):
With the exception of the referee’s watch (and the possible exception of a wedding band), no referee should wear any adornment that is not permitted for players. In other words, NO JEWELRY.

At a recent game, an incident occurred and I wanted to get some clarification on what a referee/coach mentor is allowed to do during a game he/she is observing and what other referees who are waiting for their games can verbalize to another referee.  I also wanted to get clarification on Law 12 of the game.

Here is what occurred:

Question:
My team was on an offensive attack and a cross was delivered into the 6 yd box.  One of my players was making a run to the near post to attempt to score a goal.  The goalie came off the line and then fumbled the ball and the ball was loose on the ground in front of the goal.  My offensive player saw an opportunity to finish a play and proceeded to try to score.  The goalie then bent over and to the left to recover the bouncing ball and moved into the path of the oncoming offensive player.  The offensive player attempted to twist away from the goalie that was now in the path.  The goalie grabbed the ball and immediately proceeded to get in the upright position and collided with the oncoming offensive player.  The collision between the two players caused the goalie to go to the ground and the oncoming player was spun around and landed upright facing in the opposite direction.  The referee came and showed the yellow card to the offensive player.

After the initial call, the center referee went to the sidelines where the center proceeded to speak to the AR and another person on the sidelines who was not part of the 4 man crew.  After several minutes of discussion among them, the center showed the red card to the offensive player for a sendoff.

After the game, I asked who the referee spoke to on the sidelines, as it was a person not in referee attire and not part of the 4 man crew.  I was told that it was the referee mentor that the center was speaking to.  Several days after, I found out that it was actually just another referee awaiting a game that was involved in a discussion with the center and the AR.  The other AR and the 4th official were not involved in the discussion.

My first question is this, is the referee mentor or another referee allowed to give input in a game that they are not officiating?  Does the referee mentor have the capacity to give advise in regards to a specific incident during a game and help the center referee determine what call to make?  Can a referee who is not part of the 4 man crew render advice that potentially alters the call of the center referee?

Second, the player was sent off for violent conduct.  In reading the FIFA Law 12 in regards to violent conduct, I highlighted a statement that I felt was misapplied at the time of the send-off.  It clearly states that violent conduct is when an opponent is not challenging for the ball.  In the incident that occurred, the ball was loose and therefore the goalie did not have clear possession of the ball.  The offensive player was challenging for the ball.  The collision resulted due to the fact that the goalie moved into the path of the oncoming player to recover a dropped ball.  In reading Law 12 in regards to the verbage of violent conduct, my player should not have received this send-off.  Am I reading this Law correctly and was it misapplied in regards to this incident?
A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball.

Violent conduct may occur either on the field of play or outside its boundaries, whether the ball is in play or not.

He is also guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against a team-mate, spectator, match official or any other person.

I would appreciate any clarity you can give.

USSF answer (May 25, 2010):
First question:
Mentors (and assessors) are not allowed to interfere with the referee’s management of the game until the game is over. During the game (from the first kick-off until the final whistle), the referee should not consult with or be bothered by anyone other than his or her assistant referees and fourth official, if there is one. No referee, instructor, mentor, assessor, assignor, or administrator who is not assigned as referee or assistant referee or fourth official is allowed to interfere in any way until the game is over. This answer of earlier this month may be of help in that regard:

USSF answer (May 4, 2010):
Unless there is some special rule in your state that does not exist in other states, the mentor (or the assessor) is not allowed to interfere with the referee’s handling of the game until after the game has ended; not at a stoppage, not at halftime. He or she cannot intervene to make the referee change a call or take back a card or anything else. That sort of thing is done in the postgame conference.

However, the mentor (but NOT the assessor) could quietly suggest to the nearer assistant referee that the referee might wish to do this a bit differently — provided that the game has not already been restarted. The AR could then pass this information on to the referee.

Second question:
What is of greater concern to us is your perception of the incident in which your attacker was involved with the opposing goalkeeper. As you describe it, we see your player in the aggressor role, bowling over the goalkeeper who was simply doing her job — protecting her goal. In doing so, your player would seem to have committed serious foul play, not violent conduct, by using excessive force and total disregard for the safety of her opponent, in an attempt to win the ball.

These definitions from the USSF publication “Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game,” also meant for the reading pleasure of coaches, players, and spectators, may be helpful:

12.33 SERIOUS FOUL PLAY
It is serious foul play when a player uses violence (excessive force; formerly defined as “disproportionate and unnecessary strength”) when challenging for the ball on the field against an opponent. There can be no serious foul play against a teammate, the referee, an assistant referee, a spectator, etc. The use of violence or excessive force against an opponent under any other conditions must be punished as violent conduct.

It is also serious foul play if a player commits any tackle which endangers the safety of an opponent. In this case, the tackle may be from behind, from the side, or from the front.

This does not include serious misconduct by substitutes, who should be punished for violent conduct if they commit an act as described in the first paragraph of this section. (See 12.34.).

12.34 VIOLENT CONDUCT
It is violent conduct when a player (or substitute or substituted player) is guilty of aggression towards an opponent (when they are not contesting for the ball) or towards any other person (a teammate, the referee, an assistant referee, a spectator, etc.). The ball can be in or out of play. The aggression can occur either on or off the field of play.

A player is unlikely to be “contesting for the ball” if the player’s action against the opponent occurs from behind and with the ball on the opposite side of the opponent or with the ball beyond playing distance.

Question:
I am an Assistant Referee, therefore I am not able to center and do not know the answer to this question. Can you card a player even if the center does not actually have his cards with him.

Had a girl playing very dangerously making late tackles, grabbing and got up one time after a late tackle and said “I don’t care if he cards me”. So I went the the center at halftime and said I was very surprised he did not card the player after the 3rd, 4th or 5th foul.

His response was don’t tell anyone but I left my cards in my bag. He did end up carding her in the second half which really should have been a second yellow by that time. Basically can a ref raise his hand over a play and say Yellow or Red or do they actually have to have a card to show? I can see a game really getting out of control if a ref can’t issue a yellow or red just because they don’t have a piece of plastic in their pocket.

USSF answer (May 18, 2010):
While normal and fully correct procedure would be to show the card to a player after telling him or her why he or she was being disciplined, we can state quite definitely that a player may be cautioned or sent off without showing the card. Any referee who fails to enforce the Laws correctly simply because of having forgotten the cards does the game a major disservice — and can give him- or herself major problems with discipline and game management.

And, wonder of wonders, the referee can always stop the game and go back to his bag and fetch the cards to put them to use. And don’t forget the pen or pencil, or the notebook or note card on which to write what has happened for the game report. In addition, each AR should have had cards with him
which the referee could have borrowed.

Question:
If a referee submits a referee’s report about an incident during a match and the date on the report is different from the the date the actual match was played, is this report valid? the report submitted by this referee gives a different date from the match day he was referring too.

Secondly can the match report contain incidents that he said alledgally happen. This refers to an incident he didn’t actually see him self. Should he just report the facts of the incident. Does this type of report make the match report invalid.

USSF answer (April 19, 2010):
Inaccurate data on a match report is generally unacceptable. The final decision on that rests with the competition authority and the panel it has appointed to review the matter.

That is the reason why we constantly stress that referees check their data several times and proofread their reports before sending them in.

As to incidents that the referee did not actually see, we submit that, as the referee is obliged to take into account any events seen by an assistant referee or fourth official, there is no reason why the same information (assuming it is relevant) should not be included in the match report.

Of course, if there was no AR assigned and the lines were run by club linesmen, then the referee can only report incidents he did not see as hearsay, not as fact.

Question:
The talk about referees not being covered by USSF liability (and other?) insurance while working a non-affiliated game makes me ask: exactly what IS covered for a referee by the USSF insurance? Can you direct me to a document that spells this out, please?

USSF answer (April 12, 2010):
You will find the answer in the Certificate of Insurance that you receive annually with your registration, that formal paper that just begs to be thrown out with the envelope. Most pertinent to your question are these two bullet points:

Coverage applies to US Soccer Federation (USSF) member referees who have been certified by USSF, but only while acting in their capacity as soccer referees during USSF sanctioned camps or clinics and during matches between USSF affiliated teams and leagues.
- This includes USSF soccer referees acting in the capacity of State Referee Administrator, State Director of Assessment, State Assignment Coordinator, State Director of Referee Instruction, Chairman of the State Referee Committee and State Youth Referee Administrator, assistant referee 4th official, assessor, instructor or assignor.

And in response to your as-yet-unasked question, “Is there anything else the well-informed referee should know about it?”, the answer is, “Don’t do unaffiliated games.”

Question:
During a match a while ago, a very unique situation occurred – one that I have never seen nor heard of before. I was observing a close under 14 girls mid-level match on a wet day while I waited for my ride after my last match of the day and I did talk to the Referee after the match to pin down some of the details.

So, here we go. A defender was dribbling at speed into her own penalty area playing for time to pass the ball to the outside to a team mate who was running into position to accept the pass. The dribbling defender had an attacker just off the back of her left shoulder. The defender touched the ball forward and then ran up on it. As the defender’s right foot moved forward to kick the ball, the attacker lunged forward with her own leg between those of the defender, missing the ball, and causing the defenders kicking leg to impact with the attacker’s ankle, at which point the defender tripped, and fell awkwardly with the attacker falling next to her.

The Referee blew the whistle, and awarded a direct free kick to the defender (for tripping) and pulled the yellow card from his pocket to award a caution for Unsporting Behavior.

Let’s leave questions as to the correctness of the decision up to now, because what occurred next was the strange part. The Referee had the card in his hand held straight down by his side, presumably to show to the attacker once she regained her feet. However, the attacker was more seriously injured than she had upon first glance, and she apparently had dislocated her knee when the defender’s legs scissored her own as the defender fell. Now to add to the strangeness of the situation, I know that the Referee, a friend of mine, is a certified Emergency Medical Technician in the State of Colorado. As such, when he observes a serious injury to someone, he is required by State law to render assistance to the best of his ability. To this end, he quickly stuck the card back into his pocket, called both coaches onto the field (the defender was shaken up on the play as well), yelled for the lead AR to enter the field to keep and eye on the players, identified himself to the running coaches as an EMT and knelt to begin examining the attacker. He quickly determined that an ACL tear was likely and had a parent call for an ambulance.

He remained with the attacker until the ambulance arrived and he could hand off custody of the case to the arriving paramedics. After the ambulance left, but before play was restarted, he informed the attacker’s coach that his player had been cautioned for UB, before restarting play with the direct free kick for the defender’s team.

Under these very narrow facts and circumstances, were the Referee’s actions correct? While his personally tending the player is not in line with USSF policy, State law regarding medical professionals clearly overrides USSF policy. Secondly, when the Referee officially removed his EMT hat and put back on his Referee hat, the girl was in the ambulance already. In both of our opinions, he would have looked foolish showing the yellow card to the back of a moving vehicle. He would have looked equally foolish, not to mention cruel and uncaring, if he had shown the card to the player while she was curled up on the ground in tears. He had already pulled the card out, and the foul, in his opinion, most certainly warranted a caution. Could he simply take no action at all? Or, as he actually did in this case, could he consider pulling the card out to be “showing” it and verbally inform the coach of the caution? We both agreed after the match that things would have been simplified if he had left the card in his pocket and used the “slow” carding method (book then show), in which case he would have seen the extent of the player’s injury before the card was ever out. However, he was still determined to caution the player, as in his (and my) opinion the self-injury did not wipe out the reckless tackle and injury to the defender. Had he gone the slow path, when would the correct time to show the card be? While the player was on the stretcher? Finally, a hypothetical situation – if a referee was not an EMT in this same situation, and therefore left the player to the attention of the local athletic trainers, when (if at all) should he or she show the card? In this case, there is not the eminently justifiable reason of needing to tend to the player’s injury, but there also does not appear to be an opportune moment to show the card. We both agreed that in a higher-level match we would just show the card in the general direction of the player while they were on the stretcher, but at this age, we both felt that such an action would necessarily outrage the protective instincts of the watching parents, and cause the referee an even worse headache in the long-term.

Hope you can help sort this one out with me.

USSF answer (March 31, 2010):
The referee’s grasp of procedure appears to be quite good. As to exercising his skills as an EMT, if it has to be done, it has to be done, particularly if by not doing so he would have placed himself in legal jeopardy. Clearly a quick request for someone in the crowd with similar skills would have been good, but, . . ..

The referee will normally wait until the player has been treated or has risen before showing the card, but each situation is up to the decision of the referee. There is no definite schedule of events here. In a worst case situation, the referee could do as he did, informing the coach of the caution, or less usual but still acceptable, show the card to the captain (but be certain to explain the action).

Question:
On what grounds can a referee stop and abandon a soccer match

USSF answer (March 31, 2010):
An interesting question, one that requires a good bit of space to answer completely.

Under the Laws of the Game (or, as they are called in Great Britain, the Laws of Association Football), the referee has the power to stop, suspend or abandon the match, at his discretion for any infringements of the Laws or for outside interference of any kind. A referee (or where applicable, an assistant referee or fourth official) is not held liable for a decision to abandon a match for whatever reason.

We need first to differentiate between “abandon” and “terminate” a match. The difference between terminating a match and abandoning a match is a subtle one, but it is historically correct and supported by traditional practice. (Research into the history of the Laws will reveal this clearly; the IFAB now uses “abandon” almost exclusively, most likely just to confuse us all.) The referee may abandon a match if there is an insufficient number of players to meet the requirements of the Law or the competition, if a team does not appear or leaves before completion of the game, or if the field or any of its equipment do not meet the requirements of the Laws or are otherwise unsafe; i. e., for technical (Law 1) or physical (Law 4) safety. An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules provide otherwise. The referee may terminate a match for reasons of non-physical safety (bad weather or darkness), for any serious infringement of the Laws, or because of interference by spectators. Only the competition authority, not the referee, has the authority to declare a winner, a forfeit, or a replay of the match in its entirety. The referee must report fully on the events. “Suspended” means that a match was stopped temporarily for any of various reasons. After that the match is either resumed, abandoned, or terminated and the competition rules take over.

CONDITION OF THE FIELD (AND APPURTENANCES)
• Law 1 states that if the crossbar becomes displaced or broken, play is stopped until it has been repaired or replaced in position. If it is not possible to repair the crossbar, the match must be abandoned. In addition, if the referee declares that one spot on the field is not playable, then the entire field must be declared unplayable and the game abandoned.

• A careful inspection of the field before the start of the game might lead the referee to abandon the game before it was started. If, once the match has begun, the referee discovers a problem that is not correctable, then the referee’s decision must be to abandon the game and report the matter to the competition authority.

• Under Law 5, the referee is authorized to stop play if, in his opinion, the floodlights are inadequate.

INTERFERENCE BY PLAYERS, OTHER PARTICIPANTS, OR SPECTATORS
If an object thrown by a spectator hits the referee or one of the assistant referees or a player or team official, the referee may allow the match to continue, suspend play or abandon the match depending on
the severity of the incident. He must, in all cases, report the incident(s) to the appropriate authorities. Using the powers given him by Law 5, the referee may stop, suspend or terminate the match, at his discretion, for any infringements of the Laws or for grave disorder (see below). If he decides to terminate the match, he must provide the appropriate authorities with a match report which includes information on any disciplinary action taken against players, and/or team officials and any other incidents which occurred before, during or after the match. In no event may the referee determine the winner of any match, terminated or not. Nor may the referee decide whether or not a match must be replayed. Both of those decisions are up to the competition authority, i. e., the league, cup, tournament, etc.

“Grave disorder” would be any sort of dustup involving the players and/or spectators and/or team officials which puts the officials in immediate or likely subsequent jeopardy — fights which metastasize beyond just 2 or 3, masses of spectators invading the pitch, throwing dangerous objects (e. g., firecrackers, butane lighters, etc.) onto the field, and so forth.

THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS
• The referee has no authority to force a team to play if they do not wish to continue a game nor to terminate the match in such a case. The referee will simply abandon the game and include all pertinent details in the match report.

• In the opinion of the International F.A. Board, a match should not be considered valid if there are fewer than seven players in either of the teams. If a team with only seven players is penalized by the award of a penalty-kick and as a consequence one of their players is sent off, leaving only six in the team, the game must be abandoned without allowing the penalty-kick to be taken unless the national association has decided otherwise with regard to the minimum number of players.

• The referee must not abandon the game if a team loses a kicker after kicks from the mark begin. The kicks must be completed.

• If a player has been seriously injured and cannot leave the field without risking further injury, the referee must stop the game and have the player removed. If, for whatever reason, there is no competent person available to oversee removal of the seriously injured player from the field for treatment, then the match must be abandoned.

• If player fraud is alleged prior to the game and the player will admit that he is not the person on the pass he has presented and the game has already begun, the referee will have to deal with the matter of an outside agent on the field. If the fraud were not discovered until after the game had been restarted, the only solution would be to abandon the match. If there is no goal issue, the fraudulent player is removed and the game is restarted with a dropped ball.

• If a player, from a team with only seven players, leaves the field of play to receive medical attention, the match will stop until this player has received treatment and returns to the field of play. If he is unable to return, the match is abandoned, unless the member association has decided otherwise with regard to the minimum number of players.

In all cases, the referee must submit a full report to the appropriate authorities.

AMOUNT OF TIME PLAYED
If the referee discovers that a period of play was ended prematurely but a subsequent period of play has started, the match must be abandoned and the full details of the error included in the game report.

TEAM OFFICIALS
The Laws make the point that the coach and other team officials must BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY and thus may not shout, curse, interfere, or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves The coach’s presence, or the presence of any other team official, is generally irrelevant to the game — under the Laws of the Game, but it may have some importance under the rules of youth competitions. If the coach or other team official is removed, known in the Law as “expelled,” that person must leave the field and its environs. If it is a youth game and the coach and all other team officials have been expelled, then the referee should consider abandoning the game. A full report must be filed with the competition authority. The referee has no authority to determine who has won or lost the game, whether by forfeit or any other process; that is the responsibility of the competition authority. The referee must file a report on all events associated with the abandonment.

RESULT OF THE MATCH
Once the game begins, only the referee has the right to decide whether the game continues, is suspended temporarily, terminated or abandoned. If a game is abandoned or terminated before it is completed, the determination of the result is up to the competition authority (league, cup, tournament). In most cases, competitions declare that if a full half has been played, the result stands, but that does not apply to all competitions. The referee does not have the authority to declare what the score is or who has won the game. The referee’s only recourse is to include in his game report full details of what caused the match to be abandoned or terminated. The status of an abandoned is determined by the rules of the competition or the competition authority itself. There is no set amount of time, but many rules of competition will call a game complete if a full half has been played.

Question:
An attacker A1 shoots the ball toward the goal and the ball is handled by defender D in the penalty area preventing a goal. As a result of D’s handling, the ball is deflected to another attacker A2 with a possible shot on goal that is at least as good an opportunity to score as a penalty shot. Say, no real challenge by a defender on A2. The referee allows advantage, and A2 shoots toward the goal but misses. The ball goes directly over the goal line after A2’s shot.

Q1.What is the restart? Penalty kick or goal kick ?

Q2. Does D get a caution or a send off? Note that according to 12.39 of “Advice…”, if A2 had scored, then D would be cautioned and the restart would be a kick off.

Game level: To the extent that the answer is level dependent, I would appreciate a response reflecting that up thru adult pro.

USSF answer (March 1, 2010):
According to the Laws of the Game 2009/2010 (Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees, p. 122), “If the referee applies advantage during an obvious goalscoring opportunity and a goal is scored directly, despite the opponent’s handling the ball or fouling an opponent, the player cannot be sent off but he may still be cautioned.” In this case, the referee applied the advantage, which was realized, in that the attacking team was able to shoot, but failed to score a goal. Decision? See below.

You cited Advice 12.39, but apparently did not consider its second paragraph:

In cases where a goal or goalscoring opportunity has been denied by handling (DGH) or by a foul (DGF), but advantage has been applied, it is advisable to stop play as soon as possible once it becomes clear that the offended team has not been able to benefit from the advantage. This would be the case when, after roughly 3-5 seconds and at least one subsequent play, the team was not able to maintain a successful attack. In such cases, of course, the referee should return to the original foul and, additionally, show the red card for the denied opportunity associated with the foul. Because circumstances vary from game to game, there is no single mandatory decision that would be universally correct. The referee must use discretion in making the decision, based on experience, game circumstances, and common sense.

Question:
If during a game, a player is injured and no trainers or first-aid providers are available but one of the referees has extensive medical training; is it appropriate for that referee to assess the injury and provide advice to the coach on how to treat the injury or instruct the coach to seek emergency medical care for the player?

USSF answer (February 20 2010):
Only as an absolute last resort. In this litigious society of ours, a referee who is not a licensed medical practitioner would be well advised to stay out of any medical emergency that occurs during the game that referee is working.

The situation is generally controlled by state law (sometimes called a “good Samaritan” law, but also laws that cover specific professions). In some states, you are expected to perform whatever emergency services you are trained/certified to do. An EMT who is also a referee must therefore take off his referee hat and put on his EMT hat if faced with a serious injury on the field. Otherwise, stay out of it and remember that there are other important referee things you could be doing while staying out of it.

Question:
At a game in which I was the AR, there was a situation in which I felt multiple players should have been issued two yellow cards. However, the referee chose only to give each player one caution:

With a few minutes remaining, players A, B, and C were unhappy with the referee. The outcome of the game was already decided (it was a 3-0 game), so during a stoppage of play, the players took off their shirts and stormed off the field without the referee’s permission.

The referee gave players A, B, and C only one caution for deliberately leaving the field without permission. I felt that the players should have been given two cautions: 1) dissent and 2) deliberately leaving the field without permission. This would therefore mean each of the players got a red card.

What would be the proper way to administer the cautions in this situation?

USSF answer (February 8, 2010):
We cannot comment on a decision to send off both players without full details (and they are not necessary to answer your question). However, If you were to choose to caution both players twice and then show them the red card, a decision that is entirely up to you, then this is what you would do::

Show each player the yellow card twice in a row (each time explaining what it was for) and then, separately, the red card. Ex;plain to them what you are doing, make full notes, and submit a complete report to the competition authority and to any other persons required by your association.