Although, further down in the guidelines for referees re Law 5.

If an object thrown by a spectator hits the referee or one of the assistant referees or a player or team official, the referee may allow the match to continue, suspend play or abandon the match depending on the severity of the incident. He must, in all cases, report the incident(s) to the appropriate authorities.

It is surely the referee's discretion as to whether the beach ball was going to be an outside influence, in the same way that if, for example, a crisp packet was blowing around in the wind and got in a keeper's face and disturbed his vision.

Posted By: Arganth, Oct 19, 19:21:26