You Call It Q&A's - May 23, 2000

MrRef 5/23/2000

You Call It Q&A's - May 23, 2000
The goal keeper gathers the ball in his own goal area. From the goal area the keeper punts the ball, it hits the back of one of his team mates who is inside the penalty area. The keeper then picks up the ball in the goal area with his hands to prevent the ball from rolling into his goal.

What's Your call…


A NOTE TO ALL; THIS INTERPRETATION IS NO LONGER CORRECT AND ADVICE TO REFEREES 12.19 NOW READS THE KEEPER MAY NOT TOUCH THE BALL A SECOND TIME UNTIL THE BALL HAS BEEN TOUCHED BY ANY OTHER PLAYER. THERE IS NO MENTION OF LOCATION OF THE OTHER PLAYER. NOW (11/18/13) A TEAMMATE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE OUTSIDE THE PENALTY AREA



Answer submitted by Dave Reid of London , England



As the ball has not left the area, I would award an indirect free kick to the opponents.



Answer submitted by Michael Meadows of Medford OR, US



Law 12. The keeper may not touch the ball a second time becasue it did not touch a player outside of the penalty area. Indirect kick to the opponent at the point of the infringement or if in the 6 yard box on the 6 yard line parallel to the goal line.



Answer submitted by Melvyn Smith of Hurricane WV, USA



IFK to attacking team. This is simply a foul, but not a misconduct.

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct - does not permit the GK, once having had 'hand control' of the ball and then releasing it, to touch it with his(her) hand(s) again until it is touched by an opponent anywhere on the field - or by a team-mate who is outside the penalty area, provided that the team-mate's touch does not violate the so called 'back-pass' ruling.

Although it may appear that the GK prevented an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by handling the ball (in violation of the 'second touch' ruling) and stopping the ball going into the net, the GK should not be sent off - USSF's Advice to Referees on the LOTG book - Section 12, Part D, Item 12.36



Answer submitted by Peter Coughlin of Mundelein il, usa



IFK from goal area line parallel to the goal line (6 yard line) closest to the point of the foul. Reason: Law 12 "touches the ball again with his hands after it has been released from his possision and has not touched any other player." This case does not sound like it fits the criteria for this technical foul, but it does. Read the USSF advice to referees, 12.19 clearly fits this case. " A goalkeeper who has taken control of the ball and then released it back into play may not handle the ball again until it has been played by an opponent anywhere on the field of play or by a teammate who is outside the penalty area." Why should this be the interpretation of this law? For this you need to go back to the law prior to the 1997 rewrite. The prior law read the same as the current USSF interpretation. While the 1997 law rewrite was meant to simplify the laws especially for translation into other languages, unless specifically mentioned, it was not meant to change the laws. This was not a part of the law which was meant to be changed. The more complex wording of the law is now an interpretation of what is meant by the simplier form of the law instead of being the wording of the law itself.



Answer submitted by Afif H. Saad of Richmond Texas, USA



My Call is : IFK against the goalkeeper to be taken by the opponents from the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the infringement (second touch by the goalkeeper's hands) occurred.... ( Laws 12, and 8 ;special circumstances). According to Advice to Referees on the LOTG 12.19, " A goalkeeper who has taken HAND control of the ball and then released it back into play may NOT handle the ball again until it has been played (or touched) by an opponent anywhere on the field or by a teammate who is outside of the penalty area." In this case, the teammate is INSIDE the penalty area, when the punt by his keeper hits his back. When the keeper picks the ball again by his hands inside his goal area, he infringes law 12 re. second touch, which is punishable by IFK subject to special circumstances of the goal area (Law 8).



Answer submitted by Gary Voshol of Royal Oak MI, USA



I was going to say no call; I thought you were trying to trick me into a "pass-back" call, and since it was a deflection, that wouldn't apply.

But this would be a call for second-touch by the keeper. The keeper cannot pick up the ball again until it is touched by an opponent, or by a teammate OUTSIDE the PA. (Now, would someone please try to find a reference in LotG that says that? I know it's in Advice to Referees; I've just never found it in the Laws.)

As Jim Allen, one of the authors of AtR is fond of saying, it's not the ref's responsibility to protect the players from their own stupidity. While I'm not calling the keeper here stupid, mistakes were made. First mistake is miskicking the ball into the back of a teammate; second mistake is then picking it up again. Too bad - blow the whistle, award an IFK to the opponents. Move the ball to the 6-yard-line if the infraction happened inside the goal area.



A Note From Jeff Masters


I think this is a tricky issue concerning law 12 and depends whether you learned the laws prior to 1997 or not. I did not and was very confused when the following event happened in my Son's travel game.

As the keeper punts the ball, it hits the back of one of his team mates who is inside the penalty area. The keeper then picks up the ball in the goal area with his hands to prevent the ball from rolling into his goal.

The call: indirect free kick on the line parallel to the goal line and perpendicular to the point where the foul took place. (the ref in the game called an indirect free kick and placed the ball outside of the penalty area)

According to law 12 (Fifa 1999), an indirect free kick is awarded if the keeper picks up the ball with his hands while in the penalty area before the ball is touched by another player. Strictly speaking, hitting your own player accidently should be enough to allow the keeper to pick up the ball with this wording of the law.

However, the interpretation of law 12 by the US soccer federation (12.19) states that "A goalkeeper who has taken hand control of the ball and then released it back into play may not handle the ball again until it has been played by an opponent anywhere on the field or by a teammate who is outside of the penalty area.

Hope you like this one.

A Note from Mr. Ref...

Thanks Jeff - yes I think we liked this one! Don't feel bad if you missed it only 13% of the people who responded got the correct answer. Most people wanted to let play continue.

You can find the reference on this site under 1996 LOTG See Law XII Section 5b.

It states " having released the ball into play before, during or Law 12 IFK after the 4 steps, he touches it again with his hands, before it has been touched or played by a player of the opposing team either inside or outside of the penalty area, or by a player of the same team outside the penalty area".

Mr Ref

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