Question Number: 17319

Mechanics 10/14/2007

RE: Competitive Adult

Ben of Chicago, IL USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 15296

How selectively, if at all, is this rule enforced? I can think of more than a few games in professional leagues around the world that I've seen relatively recently where the AR will point to their corner spot and the center official will point to a side and the player will take it from the other. Is there a 'spirit of the game' situation that arises here that might conflict with law 17?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Ben,
The AR signals a corner kick by pointing at the corner he is actually standing beside. The AR is signalling the TYPE of restart here not necessarily which of the two spots it could occur from.
The referee has recieved from his AR the FACT the ball left the field over the goal line last touched by the attackers by observing the flag pointing at the AR's corner flag. The referee points to which corner the kick is to be taken from based on his view of where it left the field. Generally the corner occurs from the closet flag! If the ball left dead centre perhaps a referee could let the player returning the ball in to choose but it remains the decision of the referee. While we can overlook some restart locations as trivial in where the exact blade of grass is corner kicks are pretty basic!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Ben the mechanics of indicating that a corner kick is to be taken are different for the referee and assistant. The referee will signal at the location when he signals and the assistant just points with his flag to the corner next to him. This is a world wide thing.

There is another problem to contend with in America. The Laws of the Game say "the ball is placed inside the corner arc at the nearest corner flagpost". advice to Referees on the Laws 0f the Game 17.1 says "from the corner on the side of the field nearest to where the ball
crossed the goal line."

The Laws have been written the same since 1937 and it is not known if this is intended as an expedient to get play restarted quickly or another "because we know to go to the nearest corner" kind-of-thing. Suffice to say the ball can cross the goal line over the left goal post and continue moving and stop next to the corner flagpost closer to the right post. In America, following ATR 17.1 the restart will be at the left corner and following the letter of Law 17 could be at the right flagpost.

Regards,