two balls on the field incident high school soccer game

this is game film of the incident that is shown in the "Bad soccer parents. West Springfield, VA fans shown here. April 11, 2022" video

[@brianbeiler1610]

The extra ball had no impact on the play. The correct ball was set by the referee. There is NO WAY any player should be confused as to which ball was the one that was going to be kicked. Goal stands.

[@trygvelie573]

The extra ball does not influence play in any way, the referee is correct.

[@kevindesai3176]

No one gonna comment on #3 w/ the quick 2 step BRILLIANT strike? Juninho, Zico, Roberto Carlos esq...

[@stiles22]

Goal should count. Coach should get a red.

[@quicoastal]

Pretty straight forward. Second ball had no impact in the goal and for god's sake SOMEONE STAND ON THE BALL!

[@scottmiller2091]

In high school by NFHS rule standing on the ball should be a card. 10 yards is in effect without having to be asked for so a player running up to delay the quick kick is supposed to be cautioned. That being said, I’m sure they would prefer a yellow over a goal.

[@quicoastal]

@@scottmiller2091 "10 yards is in effect without having to be asked" is this an NFHS rule cause is definitely not it FIFA's Laws of the game

[@scottmiller2091]

@@quicoastal It has always been a rule in IFAB and NFHS. NFHS is just enforcing it because sportsmanship is a focus in high school athletics. Frankly it frustrates me that officials don't enforce it at all levels. Intentionally standing on the ball is cheating...it takes away the quick restart in direct violation of the LOTG. IFAB states "Until the ball is in play, all opponents must remain: at least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball, unless they are on their own goal line between the goalposts" That is absolute and makes no caveat about the kicking team having to ask for 10 yards. IFAB also states that "A player is cautioned if guilty of: failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a dropped ball, corner kick, free kick or throw-in" I'm not saying that official should verify 10 yards every time without being asked but should definitely warn then caution any player that intentionally breaks the rules in order to delay a restart.

[@quicoastal]

​@@scottmiller2091 I mis-read your first comment as "the Ref will march them back 10 without having to be asked", which is not the case. While I agree with you that "Intentionally standing on the ball is cheating" I always tell my teams to not only to do this when defending but always look for a quick re-start when atacking

[@TheFranchiseCA]

@@quicoastal Defenders must give ten yards, whether asked or not. I won't be going to cards right away, but I will be annoyed by the poor sportsmanship. Is the small tactical benefit worth annoying the referee and putting them on the lookout for other ticky-tack bad behavior? If you want players to routinely get away with a bit of gamesmanship on a free kick, slowly meandering away is the right move. It still gives your team a bit of time and will take me a several iterations to notice and several more to be annoyed.

[@rolandatc9197]

White defender should have been carded, Coach should have been ejected for entering the field to berate the ref, parents all should have been escorted out by administration.

[@beaudure01]

I do have one issue here. At the 30-second mark, it looks like a White defender (the one closest to the far sideline) has noticed the ball. He doesn't look at it while it's being tossed away, but was he distracted? Still, it didn't affect the free kick in the slightest.

[@BenGlass]

not for this goal, in my view... different story if, perhaps the free kick is played into the PA for another player to get to.. but what the referee team is considering is whether or not this quickly taken free kick is a fair goal or did the "second ball" make this goal unfair.

[@beaudure01]

@@BenGlass Definitely - if the ball had been played to the far post, this would be a different call.

[@DowL]

The left sided center back on the white team was staring at the second ball the whole time. Seems to me that while he wasn't likely going to make a direct play on the ball that was played, the second ball absolutely interfered with fair play by distracting his attention away from the free kick action.

[@BenGlass]

maybe on another type of play but not this one.. nothing he was going to do to stop this goal

the only one that was potentially distracted by the ball on this play was the blue player that picked the ball up. The ball did not interfere. The goalie made the mistake of failing to notice that the referee made no signal that a restart would be on a whistle meaning the kick could be taken at any time. He failed to be in position because he was so focused on the position of the wall and the white team failed to at least force the 10yd mark off. Poor game management by white. The coach should have been immediately red carded and the fans removed. That was the only mistake made in this clip....

[@casjedifilms9799]

referee was incompetent and had no control of the game. Should have stop over the ball to allow white team to get in positioning ordered the 2nd ball to be removed. Blue team needs to be coached better to play by the rules of fairness and sportsmanship. Parents need to shut up and let the coaches and refs do their damn jobs

[@Swapswoops]

Blue doesn’t need to wait on anything it’s a quick free kick. No need for a ceremonial restart, they did nothing wrong 😂😂

[@BenGlass]

Referee was excellent, one of the best in the area. Blue team did nothing wrong and in fact this was the second time in the game they tried that free quick. For restarts, one can probably argue blue was better prepared by coaching team. Both teams have excellent coaches and players. Visiting fans were very well behaved in game two days later.

white failed all the way around. the second ball made no difference. The only one that was distracted by it was the blue player that picked it up. Everyone else was focused on the restart. The problem that white has is no one bothered to notice that the restart was not on a whistle. The blue team was well within the rules of sportsmanship. This is all on white. They should have immediately encroached and forced a 10yd mark off, thus forcing a restart on a whistle. The keeper failed to notice that there was no signal from the official that it was to be a restart on the whistle. He was not in position because he was too busy setting up a wall due to his inattention. Blue took advantage of whites lack of attention to detail. That is not blues fault. The coach should have immediately been sent off and the parents sent to the parking lot to wait. I do agree with you that the parents need to shut up and let the coaches and officials do their jobs, especially since the parents had no clue what they were talking about.

[@soumencreatives]

Sir i want to contact you ....can you tell me the way through which i contact you.

[@BenGlass]

Google Ben Glass, virginia attorney and soccer referee