What if I see a sending-off offence the referee missed, and what must I report?

Signalling (Practical guidelines, Laws 2026/27)
If you signal for a sending-off offence and the signal isn't seen immediately:

• if play has been stopped, the restart may be changed in line with the Laws (free kick, penalty kick and so on)
• if play has already restarted, the referee may still take disciplinary action, but can't penalise the offence with a free kick or penalty kick

Under Law 5, a sanction can only be given after play restarts if another match official had identified the offence and tried to tell the referee before the restart. So signal promptly.

Reporting (Law 6)

• You must submit a report to the appropriate authorities on any serious misconduct or other incident that happened out of the view of the referee and the other match officials.
• You must tell the referee (and the other officials) that you are making a report.
• You also help keep records of time, goals and misconduct.

Under SAFA's Disciplinary Code (art. 109), match officials are obliged to report infringements that come to their notice, and the facts in match officials' reports are presumed accurate at hearings (art. 99).