Question Number: 18457

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 3/2/2008

RE: Rec Under 12

Brett Peavler of Brookfield, Wisconsin USA asks...

I once reffed a game with goals made by a genius manufacturer that had football(American, NCAA, NFL, highschool, whatever you want to call it)goalposts mounted on the goal and the football crossbar lying on the top of the goal. So anyway, during the course of the game team A is attacking with about 2/3 of their team when suddenly team B intercepts a pass and clears it to the other half of the field and gets a non-offside breakaway one-on-one with the keeper when suddenly Team B's striker toe-kicks the ball and it bounces off the TOP of the goal crossbar AT A DOWNWARD ANGLE. So common sense tells me that the football crossbar influenced the angle of the ball and scince that particular crossbar doesn't exist in the field of play, I stopped play and awarded a goal kick. But with some hindsight I thought that I should've let play continue because the ball did hit a good enough portion of the goal crossbar it would've stayed in play. What's your take on this?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Hi,

My take is that if the ball struck the football goal post, then you should award a goal kick...by common sense. This would be a local rule that you would want the coaches to be aware of.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Sorry to say Brett but my take on this one is what yours should be. In fact it's what every US Soccer referee's must be. For it is written in the Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game in paragraph 1.7 exactly what the referee's decision must be should this happen. Should you not have a paper copy, downloaded the document from US Soccer's website or have a pirated copy I'll quote the paragraph for you:

1.7 SUPERSTRUCTURE ON GOALS
It is not uncommon on public fields for the soccer goals to include structures attached to and above the crossbar (particularly where the goal is being used for other sports). If the ball strikes any part of such a structure, apart from or in addition to striking a goal post or crossbar, the ball is considered to have left the field even if, as a result of the contact, the ball remains on the field. The restart (goal kick or corner kick) is based on Laws 16 or 17.

Your original action was correct! Well Done.

Regards,