You Call It Q&A's

Dr. Wayne Wray 3/15/2006

Previous You Call It Q&A's - May 9, 2000
During a penalty-kick in extended time, the goalkeeper traps the ball so that it stops moving forward, and then immediately throws the ball into the goal in jubilation. What is the correct call?
What's Your call...

Answer submitted by Ed Borden of Federal Way wa, USA
In this situation, no goal is scored. The Game is over as soon as the keeper made the save. Remember the clock has stopped and has only been extended for this one kick. When the game is not in extended play then the ball going in the goal would count as a goal.

Answer submitted by Dennis Lacey of Wichita, Kansas Kansas, USA
No goal, the half ends [the question doesn't say whether this was at the end of the first or second half]. Time is extended solely for the taking of the penalty kick, and continues until the kick is completed. According to the Advice, only the Goal Keeper can participate, so once the ball stops moving toward the goal, the kick is completed. If I were the coach, I would caution the keeper to be careful, because if he had deflected the ball into the net, it would have been a goal. The way the question is described, it could have happened very quickly, perhaps quickly enough to be mis-interpreted as a parry or deflection into the goal.


Answer submitted by Ian Fradsham of Charlottetown PEI, Canada

Law 14 - Penalty Kick says that a penalty kick is complete when the referee decides that it is over. In this situation the goalkeeper has obviously stopped the ball,and the penalty phase of play is complete, ending the match. In my opinion, the celebration of the goalkeeper occurs as a result of the save and I would not not award the goal. To prevent confusion in this case, the referee should have the whistle blown before the goalkeeper can throw the ball into the net, ending the penalty and the match.



Answer submitted by Peter Tabb of Roseville California, USA



If a penalty kick has to be taken or retaken, the duration of either half is extended until the penalty kick is completed. The statement "During a penalty-kick in extended time, the goalkeeper traps the ball so that it stops moving forward, and then immediately throws the ball into the goal in jubilation." would suggest that the ball has been stopped completely and therefore the game has been stopped. Whether or not the game is officially ended is open for discussion. I would have to say that the official ruling would be to stop the game and no goal is awarded. I would also presume the goalkeeper was awarded many rounds of Foster's Lager Oil Cans.



Answer submitted by Patrick Ferre of Visalia CA, U.S.A.



The first thing to know is whether in this case, "extended time" means time was extended solely for the taking of the penalty kick or whether the penalty kick is awarded while time has been extended to make up for substitutions, injuries and the like. If the situation is the former, I would answer in this way. The taking of the kick from the penalty mark ends when the official in charge decides that the kick comes to an end. If the official decided that the goalkeeper has stopped the kick and "was in control of the ball before throwing it into the goal" he must not award a goal because the kick is over and a new and separate action (the intentional throwing of the ball into the goal) has taken place. Since that second action is taken beyond the extended time allowance, the half has already come to an end.

If on the other hand the official determines that, even though forward motion was stopped, the goalkeeper did not have control of the ball before "throwing it into the net as a form of celebratiton", then he/she may decide to award the goal. The referee has to decide if the goalkeeper is trying to overshadow (fake) the fact that he/she did not have control of the ball and by "throwing it into the goal" is trying to influence the official's decision in his/her favor (tough call but that's why referees "get the big bucks" ha! ha! :) The current score of the match and the importance of the game will have a great deal to do with this call. A tie game at that point is different than a 4-1 game and the team with one goal is awarded the kick.

The second possibility is a bit more complicated. One would have to know if the referee has "without a doubt" notified all players if official time has expired or not, prior to the taking of the kick. Someone could end up with egg on their face if this was not made perfectly clear to the players.

Let's assume that the referee HAS notified all players that this is only a penalty kick and time HAS NOT expired.

Since the goalkeeper has stopped the ball, that play (the penalty kick)is over however, the ball is still in play. Throwing it into the goal would result in a goal being awarded to the opponent and game restarted with a kick-off.



A Note From The Assessor


Excellent answers! Unfortunately I am unable to post them all.

Mr. Ferre is correct in the situation where time is extended for the taking of a penalty kick. A penalty-kick is considered completed in the event of a match being extended when the kick is stopped. In this situation the period has ended when the goalkeeper takes control of the ball. No Goal.

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