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Here's a reminder of question number 11, followed by the answer from Keith Hackett.

Question number 11
Part A: A player sees a goalscoring opportunity, but you - the referee - are unfortunately in the way. He deliberately pushes you out of the way to get to the ball and knocks you to the ground in the process.

He puts the ball in the net but the defence claim they stopped when they saw you on the floor. You didn't see the goal as you were on your backside and your linesman is unsighted and not in a position to rule.

What would you do in this siuation?

This question was inspired by a suggestion from fearlessJon_Taylor. Here is his original submission:

Hi Mr Hackett

Thanks for answering all of the questions asked, the answers have been very helpful. Here's my conundrum:

Part B: It's 1-0 to Spain against Russia in the last few minutes, with the game swinging end-to-end. Russia have a corner which is cleared but passed back to Arshavin who looks certain to score, unfortunately the referee accidentally elbows him in the face knocking him off balance. The Russia players surround you, complaining that you have denied them a goal. What do you do?

Keith's Hackett's answer
Part A: In normal circumstances, if a referee has not seen whether a goal has been scored or not he will ask his assistants, especially the one nearest the goal.

If they are unable to confirm a goal has been scored, the referee cannot award a goal.

In this question, the player has deliberately pushed the referee out of the way. Players must not put their hands on any of the officials. They must show respect.

A deliberate push on the referee would be taken as an assault. The player is shown a red card and sent off. The game is restarted with an indirect free-kick from where he pushed the referee to the ground.

Part B: This is a difficult predicament for the referee and fortunately you do not have to show a red card to yourself.

You are protected in law by effectively being part of the field of play and this incident is an accident, in the same way that if a shot on goal was clearly going wide strikes the referee and enters the goal.

This would count as a goal.

I can remember some years ago Rotherham referee John Key giving a clear and firm signal to indicate a throw in and in doing so struck a player on the face and knocked him to the ground. The player, whilst receiving treatment, received an apology from John and both ended up smiling.

Thanks for your kind comments Jon.

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