Question Number: 15141

Law 16 - Goal Kick 4/9/2007

RE: Competitive Under 15

Aubrey Waddell of Maryville, TN USA asks...

Player A for the red team placed the ball on the goal area line and to attempt a goal kick. All other players except keeper were out of the penalty area. As Player A backed up to position himself to take the goal kick, the wind blew the ball toward him. As the ball rolled toward Player A, he went ahead and kicked it and got off a poor kick. Player X for the blue team intercepted the kick outside the penalty area and quickly fired it into the goal. Should I have signalled for a re-kick because the ball was not stationary when the goal kick was taken?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

According to the law the ball must be stationary when it is kicked into play. If this was not the case then a re-kick must be ordered. On very windy days the teammate of the kicker may hold the ball in place with his hand or foot (like an American Football kick holder) to ensure that the ball remains still until it is kicked into play.

This might not seem fair, but it is what the law required in this case. Of course, you as the referee should have started to blow the whistle as soon as you noticed this restart was taken improperly. This would have prevented the attacker from scoring the goal and you would save yourself a lot of grief. The player's would also be less frustrated, which is a good thing for game control.

Communicate and be proactive with players to prevent problems, and do this in a timely fashion.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Yes. The ball must be stationary. As Steve said, have a player hold the ball with the finger on a really windy day.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Aubrey you need to reread the laws of the game a bit more often.
Yes the ball must be stationary. I suppose if the ball wobbled a bit towards him from the wind just as he was kicking it and the kick went well you could ignore as trivial. MY colleague's suggestions that the ball could be held in place are meritous to avoid a nonstationary restart.

Here though surprised as I am that a rolling ball towards the player was poorly kicked it was not the fault of the player performing the kick and the result of allowing an imporper restart that leads to a cheap goal is not a good thing.

You must realize that on ANY defending free kick inside a defender's penalty area be it INDFK or DFK including a goal kick although both teams are excluded from playing the ball until the ball completely leaves the penalty area into play, only the opponents are NOT allowed within the penalty area as well as following the 10 yard restriction.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Yes you should have. The ball MUST be stationary at the time of the kick. If it's windy, have a teammate hold a finger on the ball. SInce the ball is not in play until the ball has left the penalty area this is NOT deliberately handling the ball.