Question Number: 22792

Law 3 - Number of Players 2/2/2010

RE: competitive Adult

rob of woodbridge, new york us asks...

This question is a follow up to question 107120

our last referee meeting ended in a debate no one could answer. i thought it was simple but didn't respond. here was debate: if during the course of play a player fully crosses the touch line leaving field of play to avoid an opposing player and re-enters the field to continue tracking ball the referee must blow whistle and caution for leaving and re-entering field without permission.

i didn't agree, can you clarify this

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Rob, you are correct. It is part of the game. Other examples are: throw-ins, getting the ball for a goal kick and corner kick. All this is part of the game.
It is NOT OK is to return to the field of play if the player was temporarily sent off for bleeding or to fix his equipment (missing shin pads, removing jewelry) because for starters it has to be done during stoppage of play. If trainers looked at him and he left to get the magic sponge, he must wait for the referees signal to reenter the field and this can be done during play.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I hope there were no instructors there as this should not even be debatable. Players during the normal course of play leave the field of play all the time and this is perfectly legal. You should have chimed in and had your copy of Advice To Referees which states:

3.9 LEAVING THE FIELD IN THE COURSE OF PLAY
Players are normally expected to remain on the field while the ball is in play, leaving only to retrieve a ball or when ordered off by the referee. If a player accidentally passes over one of the boundary lines of the field of play or if a player in possession of or contesting for the ball passes over the touch line or the goal line without the ball to beat an opponent, he or she is not considered to have left the field of play without the permission of the referee. This player does not need the referee's permission to return to the field.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Rob - it IS simple, because not only is it clearly answered in the ATR but was also in the 2006 FIFA Questions and Answers to the Laws of the Game.

Law 3 Q2:

A player in possession of the ball passes over the touch line or the goal
line without the ball in order to beat an opponent. What action does
the referee take?
Play continues. Going outside the field of play may be considered as
part of a playing movement, but players are expected, as a general
rule, to remain within the playing area.

This simply is not a debatable question, the answer is black and white.

There are areas in which a player may be commit an offence by temporarily leaving the field of play - such as stepping off to put an opponent offside, or running around the back of the goals, then popping up in front to receive a ball.

Neither of those are happening here though.

Incidentally, if the defender also steps off the field of play and, say, trips the opponent, the restart is a drop ball where the ball was and the defender is cautioned - though unless the contact clearly occurs off the field I'd be assuming it was just on the line....(the reason for this is that fouls can only be committed on the field of play, thus it becomes misconduct).