This weekend rather than repeatedly tell you all that I will keep working on my basement. I refereed an indoor soccer tournament. It was a blast I had a great time, but I had one really interesting and definitely match critical situation detailed below.

Situation

The game is being played using modified indoor rules. Relevant rules are a universal clock, no stoppage time, all balls that go over the two touchlines are IDFKs, two referees on the match, teams should have 4 players and a GK. I think that is all the changes that matter.

From my perspective. (so you have it for further education if needed) this situation happened in about ten seconds. My position on the field was team side, with my back towards the other fields, and on the opposite side of the field of the losing team goalkeeper. The losing team’s bench and coach were directly behind me. The current score was 6-5 with about one minute on the universal clock. 

The ball goes over the touchline, last touched by a player of the winning team. The original matchball ends up two fields away.  When the ball is identified as being a good distance from the field of play, the losing coach and team demand an alternate ball be sent to the field. A suitable ball was available and given to the losing team to take their IDFK restart. The losing team took the ball for the restart. Both teams seemed aware that an alternate ball was found, (as in the winning team, who was not in possession, handed me the alternate ball to check and the losing team kicked it in)

Play is restarted from the losing team’s defensive third of the field on my touchline, and the ball is quickly (less than 3 seconds) turned over to the winning team, who immediately scores a goal. The shot was taken from the opposite half of the field near the goal area. The losing team goalkeeper was in the corner of the field with the original game ball in his hands. 

I was not aware that the GK had left the field to retrieve the ball, how far away the GK went from the field, or even where they went. 

Decision on the field, award the goal to the winning team, restart with kick-off. 

Sidebar two touches after the ensuing kickoff, the losing team scores to make the final score 6-7 instead of 5-7. The clock expires before the next kickoff.  

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Rules, thought process, and perspectiveAfter a little more thought and review, I would say you definitely have a point about starting the match with the GK off the field, and it could have been handled differently. Ideally, we don’t grab the extra ball and wait for the GK to retrieve the ball that is left to restart.

After the goal was scored, the most fair thing I could have done was say no goal and give the ball to the scoring team with an IDFK where the shot was taken from. 

In the moment, the match ball is gone, the clock is ticking, we are in a game that must have a winner with high emotion, the winning team tosses me a suitable ball to be put into play, I toss the ball to the losing team and move to the opposite goal-line for the restart. (All 3 losing team players were in or near the opposing team’s goal area) I 100% did not look for the losing team GK. I did make eye contact with my other referee, who kinda gave me a shoulder shrug. IDK what to do, deer in the headlights look. Again, the clock was ticking; I felt like by the time we had a conversation, the game would be over anyway. The losing team coach was shouting, “Who cares, get the ball back in play!”. Live I also had a deer in the headlights look, because Fuck what now, and I determined that the goal stood. 

My thought process in that split second was 

A) Was the GK considered on the field even though he was retrieving the ball? answer yes 

B) Was what happened fair? answer no 

C) Do the laws allow me to fix this after the restart was correctly taken? answer no goal stands.

My assessment for point C is questionable. I don’t think it was incorrect based on the duties of the referee, the method of scoring the number of players, or anything else. 

Playing devil’s advocate here, when can we call a GK on the field? The laws are pretty vague that a team has 11 players, and one must be the GK. There are sections about going under 7 players and a player having to leave for treatment etc, but nothing about the GK leaving the field. We do not allow a team to play without a marked GK at all. We do not allow a team to play (limited substitutions) when the GK is on the sideline getting treatment. But if a GK is not on the field due to their actions and no other circumstances, I don’t see a reason we can’t start the game. To further that point, we allow a GK to take a throw-in or corner, and they are typically off the field when play is restarted. I will accept that a goalkeeper taking a restart is vastly different than a goalkeeper retrieving a ball. I also think GKs retrieve balls all the time aka when we keep an extra ball behind their net. I honestly never check for them to be back on the field if a teammate is restarting play, but should I?

I don’t feel bad about the decision, and I honestly don’t think the team that lost can complain.  I don’t think their team was done an injustice based on the time left in the game with less than a minute and no time able to be added for stoppages, them being down by a single goal, and the absolute rush to get a new ball on the field. My justification is this. If the losing team scores the tying goal instead of allowing a goal while their GK is somewhere else, would it be fair to take their tying goal away because their GK was not on the field? My other justification is the losing team is in charge of restarting the game. They were the team in possession, and their GK was elsewhere, and they chose to restart anyway.