Delayed call of a goal question

[Laxbacker]

Team A player takes a shot and the ball looks to have hit the back of the net (scoring) but somehow bounces straight out in front of the crease.

Although the shot looked good the ball actually bounced as if it had struck the pipe or something.

However, the Lead Official makes no call one way or the other.

Meanwhile, Team B picks up the loose ball and commences clearing it upfield. When the ball subsequently goes out of bounds approximately 45 secs to a minute later, the coach of Team A understandably calls time and requests a meeting with the Ref.

After a short discussion, the Officials (2) meet, have a talk and then the other official(senior to the lead official, I believe) walks over to the scoring table and holds his hands up to indicate the goal counted after all.

Now for my questions (2):

1. -- Can (under the Fed. book) a ref, after approximately 1 min. of play, reverse a no call of a goal based on a confab with the coach?

or

2. -- Should he have just let the apparently blown call (no call) stand and move on?

Note: In the defense of the refs the shot looked good but bounced out in way that would easily confuse one as to whether it actually went in.

Thanks in advance

[Sonny]

I would say No. 2. I don't see any situation how a ref could put a goal on the scoreboard after one minute of play had expired. Yes, they should correct their own error quickly, when practical. But if they let play continue for over a minute, neither ref thought it was a goal.

[Lax_Stats]

I would say that it is pretty difficult for a hard rubber ball to hit a soft mesh net and bounce out of the goal unless it has hit something solid like the pipe which means no goal was likely scored. The only exception to this that I can think of would be a team that strings their net to the goal in such a fashion that the corners are extremely tight with no "give" to them and a shot is taken from virtually no angle causing the ball to actually not be able to completely pass entirely thru the plane of the goal, hit the netting in the corner without the netting giving at all that the ball sort of richochets along the netting before hitting the pipe and re-entering the field of play. That being said, the nets should have been checked before the game and this problem found by the crew and either corrected to prevent this situation or the entire crew at least made aware of the situation so they can be prepared for any shots that might hit the corners where the goal netting is strung tightly. Now, that being said as well, a good lead official will be exactly where he needs to be on the plane of the goal to be able to clearly see any shot that completely enters and crosses the plane of the goal. Between lead and far side official, the goal should be well covered.

Now, taking into account the situation you described and the coach calling timeout. The refs conference. If the referee is convinced after the conference that a goal has in fact been scored but was not called and signaled, it is completely appropriate for a goal to be awarded. Keep in mind, play was never stopped and re-started, so a goal can still be awarded. However, this certainly will make the lead official look bad, but if the goal was in fact scored, better to look bad than not award a goal a team is entitled to. Remember what the rule book says about mistakes by officials and the parameters allowed for correcting those mistakes.

[LaxRef]

Now, taking into account the situation you described and the coach calling timeout. The refs conference. If the referee is convinced after the conference that a goal has in fact been scored but was not called and signaled, it is completely appropriate for a goal to be awarded. Keep in mind, play was never stopped and re-started, so a goal can still be awarded. However, this certainly will make the lead official look bad, but if the goal was in fact scored, better to look bad than not award a goal a team is entitled to. Remember what the rule book says about mistakes by officials and the parameters allowed for correcting those mistakes.

I agree. But what do you do if the team that was originally scored upon gets the ball and scores a goal. Now you're taking away one goal and belateddly awarding another goal!

I agree we should get the call right; the big problem here was that the officials didn't stop play immediately to conference when there was doubt.

[Lax_Stats]

You keep the game fair be awarding both goals.