Ball Under?

It seems that whenever we take part in competitions there are rules or questions that emerge as talking points for players and coaches. This past weekend there was such a thing happening at the Bushido Invitational with many frustrated over ordinary foul rule WP 20.6: "To take or hold the entire ball under the water when tackled".

This is a rule that is intended to keep the ball in play, available to defenders and visible to those trying to touch it within reach. It is not intended to penalize a player who grabs the ball from the top and raises it to take a shot when there is not a player tackling them. Coaches get very frustrated to see this call happen so often in games when it goes against the flow of play.

Even when players grab the ball from the side and do a roll, away from a defender, in a full layout ie not tackled at all, they can push lots of water with the ball movement and have a wave rush over the ball. That is not "holding the entire ball under the water" but it is often called that way by young referees.

However the time I see this called incorrectly the most is when a referee sees a defender at 2m reach over an offensive players shoulder while they wrestle for position and then when the ball goes out of sight the offense is assumed to have "had possession" so is called for taking it under. Then, as the offense raise their hands and there is still no ball, the referee does not adjust his call when he sees the defender bring it up and pass it to the goalie. That really confuses players, and referees need more support to either not whistle what the don't see clearly or to correct the call if they are able to see it was the other team that actually had the ball.

This didn't happen in any specific game or cost any one team a key possession. I am talking about something I saw at 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U play. All weekend, without players changing behaviour or referees changing calls. I know the play didn't change because it so often is not a player taking the ball under so they can't "correct" what they are not doing.

That's a coaches beef about a vague call that changes the tempo of a possession in a completely unjustified way.