Question Number: 23494

Law 3 - Number of Players 6/17/2010

RE: Rec Under 15

Jenny of Wrightstown, WI USA asks...

In our game tonight, the opposing team was given a verbal warning in the first half for too many players on the field (they had 12). In the second half, play was stopped for a push (opposing team's foul) and the ref again counted 12 on the field. He gave the coach a yellow card and restarted play with a drop ball. Is that correct?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jenny
In a FIFA approved game this would not be the correct action. Coaches are not shown cards but are warned verbally or removed from the technical area and the surrounds of the field of play if they persist with the unsatisfactory behaviour
In this case the extra players should have been cautioned and the restart is an indirect free kick if play was stopped to deal with the extra player or if the game is stopped for another reason it restarts as normal ie thrown in, free kick, corner kick etc.
Also any goal that has been scored with an extra player on the FOP must be disallowed if the referee becomes aware of the extra player before play restarts with the kick off. If play has already restarted the goal must stand, the extra player cautioned and removed from the FOP and the matter must be reported to the relevant competition authority.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

This referee screwed up. He should have cautined the extra player on each of the occasion. Then the match starts with an IFK for the non guilty team at the point of the ball when play was stopped.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This is not correct in US High School either. There's no verbal warning for an extra player nor would the coach get a yellow card. The extra player on the field in each instance should be removed and probably cautioned.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Frankly, this is a serious referee error. In recreational games, it usually occurs because teams will substitute a number of players all at one time. If the referee, and her ARs, do not take the time to count the players after the substitutions have been completed and before play restarts, these kinds of things happen, and it is NEVER good. Unless the coach is deliberately cheating, the referee has failed in an essential duty.

While my colleagues give you the correct by-the-book answer under the LOTG, I have to say I find it rather harsh to caution players who are sent on by a clueless coach when the extra player isn't caught by the referee and/or her assistants! It's not like they sneaked the player on.

As the editor of the USSF's Ask A Soccer Referee official website noted, in some situations, the wise referee will simply ask that the extra player be removed, and let the coach choose one. A repeat might cause the referee to issue a caution to a player (but NEVER the coach), because apparently the coach didn't learn from the first incident such a short time ago. The referee could choose again to do nothing more than warn the coach and have a player removed. In some games, such as recreational youth games, that is the fair thing to do, and uses good old common sense - especially since this is something that should not have happened in the first place, if the referee had been doing his job correctly. This would not ever be recommended procedure in a limited substitution game.