Question Number: 13494

Law 16 - Goal Kick 8/15/2006

RE: Rec Under 14

Ryan Mugan of Howards Grove, Wisconsin United States asks...

I just took the grade 9 referee class and my question is if you were refing a little game like U-8 and it was a goal kick and the players could not kick it out of the box. I think eventually u would just let them play on but what if it was a competitive game?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Good question! This often happens in younger games. The ball on a goal kick must leave the penalty area before it is in play. If it is a U8 game, I would instruct the players of this and allow the team to keep on trying until a player kicks it out. Sooner or later they will kick it out.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

If you see a clear violation you are obligated to enforce the Laws of the Game by Law 5. Trick is when you see this develop you need to go someplace where you can't see the violation, perhaps the halfway line,

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Ryan,
first off congratulations for the effort in taking the first step on the road to officiating. It can be fun but it has responsibilitities and requires effort and commitment on your part to do it well!

The game should allow for the success of action. U-8 on a full sized field is not going to work well!

Often the field size is altered as are the number of players and even coaches are allowed on the field to coax the wee ones to focus and have fun.

Generally a miskick is retaken. If it was retaken twenty times I might suggest that a coach could switch players. Nothing wrong in pointing out the ball must clear the area as well as all oponents must be outside the area and all players must wait for the ball to clear beefore playing the ball! We are all there to encourage and support the youth.
Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 13621