I was reffing my lad’s team today and a series of events caused a lot of controversy.
We were 4-2 up with 10 minutes left. The opposition scored, for the ball out of the net and raced back to restart. They got underway and with 2/3 minutes left, equalised. Again they got the ball and legged it back. They need a win to go top. In the last minute, they snatched a winner and all ran off the pitch and were some 10 yards off the pitch for about a minute.
My goalie kicked the ball back and then one player said “let’s kick off”. The opposition had 2 or 3 players and the goalie on the pitch. The rest were still going crazy off the pitch.
I had a flash back to France ‘98 and Darren Anderton’s last ditch tackle against Argentina. I let them kick off. The opposition coaches were fine with it but some of the parents weren’t happy.
Have I acted within the laws of the game by allowing the game to be restarted?