Question Number: 12957

Law 16 - Goal Kick 6/5/2006

RE: Recreational Under 12

Chris of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 9727

I agree that it was a great idea by the quick witted goalkeeper to take the goal kick quickly so that the incorrect decision cannot be overturned. But if he had taken it too quickly before the opposition players had vacated the penalty area, has the restart taken place incorrectly, so that no restart has technically taken place and the decision may still be reversed?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

There is one other point one could make, did the referee allow the restart of play or did the goalkeeper just take it upon himself to restart things?

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Chris,
a referee must still be the final determining factor of a restart if it is done correctly or not. If a restart is incorrectly taken and new evidence arises to support a different restart before it can be retaken we can reverse the decision and in my opinion we could go with the new information IF credible!

Lets take a a foul in behind play at centre where a blue player strikes a red player the far AR raises the flag. The other AR is focused on the ball going out and so raises his flag and signals a goal kick . The blue keeper grabs the ball and quickly sets and pumps the ball downfield (while opposing players are inside the penalty area) to the now free blue player as the red player is a bit out of position from picking himself up. The CR who knew the opposing players were inside but felt it prudent to allow the kick as it was looking advantagous and thus encroachment was doubtful or trivial to the need to stop play. He mistakenly thinks the far AR flag is for offside and tries to waves him down. The AR begins to shake the flag strenously to convey it is not offside so finally the referee stops play and is told the story of the old foul BEFORE the ball went out of play at the far end of the field. Aside from sending off the blue player for VC although the misconduct occured out of sight it does not get shoved off because of a restart unlike something a referee witnessess first hand! I restart with a DFK from where the foul occured because I can in law do so! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

First of all, the referee can reverse the decision provided he has not restarted play. In this scenario, the referee never allowed the restart of play as Mr. Fleischer pointed out so the call can be reversed. Next, you are correct that if defenders are inside P.A. during the kick, the goal kick would be retaken anyway. As Always,