Question Number: 22854

Law 3 - Number of Players 2/22/2010

RE: 8 Under 12

P Schneider of Boca Raton , FL USA asks...

A coach after a water break sneaks a 12th player onto the field, the ref does not takes notice until the 4th referee calls on the ref about the incident. Ideally you would send the last player who entered, off the field and hand him a yellow card.
You don't know who it was, the coach won't tell. What do you do:

Caution just any player and send him out, caution the coach and/or send him off. Or caution the player with a yellow and send him out and send the coach off, or just issue warning to the coach.

Lastly what if a goal is scored and at that very moment you find out that the team had 12 players on the field. Do you call off the goal and issue the warnings above? What do you do? Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you - PS

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

If a goal is scored by the team with an extra player, and the referee discovers this before the restart (kickoff) the goal is disallowed. If scored by the team with the correct number of players, their goal is allowed.

If you cannot tell which of the 12 is a substitute improperly on the field (as when there is no roster of starting players), you cannot simply choose one to caution. One must leave. The coach ordinarily should be the one to inform me who will leave. Usually, however, the extra player is the result of a mistake. Of course, if the extra player entered as deliberate cheat by the coach, the referee should dismiss the coach for behaving irresponsibly.

The lesson for the referee is to be strict about complying with the substitution procedures - - no substitute enters until the player leaves the field. Moreover, when water breaks are permitted by league rules, the referee ought to count the number of players before allowing play to restart (as is done before the start of each half and any overtime periods).

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Schneider
First off a goal cannot be scored legally by a team that has 12 players on the FOP. If the 12th player is noticed before play has restarted then the goal is disallowed and the restart is a IDFK to the defence in the goal area. If the referee does not notice the 12th player until later then unfortunately the goal has to stand and the facts of the incident are reported to the League Authorities outlining the exact circumstances.
Now to the part about the extra player. If the referee has a team sheet then he has the name and numbers of the players that commenced the game and the name and numbers of the substitutes. He will also have a record of what substitutions that took place during the game. That should give him/her enough information to deal with this. In any event the Laws of the Game stipulate that the referee should have the names of all the substitutes before the game commences.
Now my way of dealing with the coach's non compliant behaviour is very simple. I ask the coach to remove the 12th player from the field of play. If he complies with the request then I caution the substitute that is removed for unsporting behaviour. If it is an incorrectly completed substitution then the substitute who entered the FOP without permission is cautioned for USB and the player he was to replace is asked to leave.
If the coach does not comply with my request then I will inform him that he has a last chance to sort this or the game will be abandoned. The matter can then be sorted by the League. Unless it is a genuine error and the coach apologises for his error, the appropriate disciplinary action should be taken against him in the circumstances and the matter reported to the relevant Authority

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

First it's a shame that the ref crew didn't catch this. In places where water breaks are used, the referees should be treating this like a mini-halftime. Count the players before you restart, and just say, 'Blue, you have one too many.' Someone will leave, and there's no harm done.

But if play is allowed to resume with too many on the field, someone has to come off when it is discovered. Then you say something like, 'Coach, you have too many players on the field. Who is extra?' If the coach refuses to identify a person to come off, you give him one more chance before you dismiss the coach. Then you ask the same question to the assistant coach. If there's still no answer, you abandon the game. Let the league deal with them.

Hopefully the coach will identify the extra person, and you caution that person for unsporting behavior. Now it could very well be that this player was simply someone who was intended to be subbed out during the water break (if that was an allowable substitution stoppage) and it really was some other person who entered without permission. Then it falls back on the referee crew for allowing an illegal person on the field. None the less, your question says they snuck an extra player on, so it looks like this was a deliberate ploy.

If a goal is scored by the team with the extra person, and at that time the extra person is noted, the goal is disallowed. If the extra person wasn't discovered until after the kickoff following the goal, the goal must stand and the referee will report the incident.

If the goal was scored by the other team, it stands.

What disturbs me most about this question is that you report it as a U12 game. Hopefully no coach at that level would be so focused on winning that he would deliberately cheat. But it happens. In that case a dismissal of the coach and abandonment of the game will surely get the league's attention focused on this rogue.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Referee Schneider, it is simpler than you think. Ask the coach or captain to send the 12th player from the field. We all know that it is an 11 aside game so somebody HAS TO GO. Now you simply wait to see who goes off. You don't really care because for one you have no way of verifying it. When the 12th person leaves you caution him for UNSPORTING BEHAVIOUR. (There are only 3 things subs can be cautioned for and this is the one you must use.) They might whine about this but their only option at this time is to protest the game.
If a goal is scored by the team with 12 players, it is called back if you have not restarted the game. If a goal is scored by the other team, it stands.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

There are 4th officials in U12? Wow.

My colleagues give sage advice - any and all of it worth using.

The scenario makes me wonder, though - why did the referee think the coach cheated? It sounds for all the world like a referee mistake - one of the kind made commonly by the many inexperienced referees who do the younger age games.

It is the referee crew's responsibility to count players anytime there is a break in the action where players and subs might be milling about together (like water breaks or when there are several substitutions by both teams at once in these unlimited substitution games) NOT the coaches! So, while the coach may have tried to game the system, that is somehow doubtful. At the ages you list, it is quite likely the coach miscounted and thought he only had 10 on the field and he was trying to fix it (albeit the wrong way).

But, if the coach's cheating was verified by the 4th official (wow! I wish all games could have 4th officials), then the only thing to do is to dismiss the coach.

Next, the referee needs to ask the assistant coach to remove the extra player. While a caution for UB is certainly acceptable, I would be loathe to give one in little folks soccer when they were doing what the coach wanted. They don't know any better, but the referee and the coaches do. Punishing a sub/player when the fault lies with the coach and/or the referee just feels wrong.

In an older or higher skilled game, the sub who went on and became the 12th man needs to be cautioned, because they do know better.

These types of situations are where referees gain management experience and learn how to work through matters to come to the best solution under the circumstances within the bounds set by the Laws of the Game and the spirit of the game.

If the team with 12 players scored, no goal unless play restarted before the extra player was discovered, in which case the goal counts and we must award 12 lashes for the referee. Then the referee must write all these details in that dreaded report.

If the team with the correct number of players scores - bully for them and against an extra defender! Count the goal!!