Five Minute Law Quiz – Feb 2015

Two players following the ball, go off the field of play, where the defender strikes the attacker. The ball is still in play when you blow the whistle for the offence. How would you restart play?

Law 12 cites that striking an opponent is a direct free offence; it is also violent conduct and a sending off offence. However one of the basic requirements for a foul is it must occur on the field of play so it would not correct to restart play with a direct free kick in this instance.

 There are two means of restarting play if the ball is in play and a violent conduct offence occurs outside the field of play:

• If the player is already off the field of play and commits the offence, play is restarted with a dropped ball from the position of the ball when play was stopped, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped

• If the player leaves the field of play to commit the offence, play is restarted with an indirect free kick from the position of the ball when play was stopped (see Law 13 –Position of free kick)

Regarding the case in point, you would restart play with an indirect free kick from the position of the ball when play was stopped.

If you discover that a named substitute has taken the place of a named player at the beginning of the match without you being informed, would you:

• Allow the named substitute to continue the match?
• Take disciplinary action against the substitute?
• Tell the offending team that their substitutes are now reduced by one?
• Report the incident to anyone?

You would allow the named substitute to continue the match, but not take any disciplinary action as the change happened before kick-off. It is not necessary to reduce the number of substitutes by one, but the incident should be reported to the competition.

How is offside by interfering with an opponent now described in the interpretations at the back of The Laws of the Game?

 “Interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball

Can a goal be scored direct from a dropped ball?

If a dropped ball is kicked directly into the opponents’ goal, a goal kick is awarded.

If a dropped ball is kicked directly into the team’s own goal, a corner kick is awarded to the opposing team.

Directly means the ball has not been touched by another player. If the player who wins the drop ball then dribbles with the ball and kicks the ball into either the team’s own goal or the opponent’s goal it will not count.

 You award an indirect free kick but forget to raise your arm to indicate it. The ball goes direct into the goal. How do you restart the game?

 An indirect free kick must be retaken if the referee fails to raise his arm to indicate that the kick is indirect and the ball is kicked directly into the goal. The initial indirect free kick is not nullified by the referee’s mistake.