Question Number: 19158

Law 15 - Throw In 5/21/2008

RE: Competitive Under 14

Brian of Santa Cruz, ca US asks...

Two throw-in situations, both of which actually happened:
First situation: On an artificial turf field that is painted for both soccer and football, the player steps up to the football line which is clearly on the playing area of the soccer field and does a throw-in. The mechanics of the throw were good with the exception of not being on or behind the touch line. It was obvious that the girl was just confused and stood behind the wrong colored line. The ref then awards the throw-in to the other team. Is this right?

Second situation: As the girl with the ball is getting ready to throw the ball in one of her team mates comes up to take the throw in. The girl with the ball, who is behind the touch line, tosses the ball to the girl who is on the field whose intention it was to take over the thrown-in. It was clearly not an attempt of the girl with the ball to restart play but to give the ball to a teammate to do the restart. AR indicates a bad throw-in and the throw goes to the other team. I see his point but I see this happen all the time without the call. What would be the proper thing to do?

It seems to me that these calls may be techically correct but are not in keeping with the spirit of the game. Thanks for your thoughts.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

1) I saw this exact same thing a few years back on TV in an MLS game, Columbus Crew I believe before they built their own stadium. No call was made, they just kept playing. I'm sure at the next throw the player was "gently reminded" (read: ridiculed) about which line was which. Sometimes I'll remind players before the game that we're playing with the yellow lines today; the white lines are for those pointy-ball players who can't run as far. While the ref was technically correct, there certainly would be better ways to handle it - give a few quick blasts on the whistle when the player was seen to be in the wrong position and get her to move.

2) Again, technically correct but certainly against the spirit of the game. In Advice to Referees we are told to discern the difference between using the foot to place a ball for a kick and actually putting it into play. The same principle applies to throw-ins. I have seen and called the opposite situation: The player with the ball makes a picture-perfect throw-in, and the receiver, thinking he's going to be the one taking the throw, catches it! Sorry, DFK for the other team, it sure looked like the ball was being put into play.

Something I don't understand about youth soccer - why do we have to have a throw-in specialist to take the throw? A player has the ball and then motions for (usually) a defender to come from 40 yards away to throw it - while the coach is yelling at him trying to wake him up. Throw-ins are ment to be a simple way of restarting play. In fact, this could be seen as an attempt to waste time.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

1. Is the call correct? The player taking the throw was not on or behind the touch line with both feet so the call was correct. Could the referee simply have allowed play to continue and verbally instruct the players to be more careful in the future? Sure. 2. Brian, surely you have seen this done countless times. It's simply the giving of the ball to a teammate to take the throw. Do nothing unless this is an obvious ploy to waste time. If it is you tell everyone involved you are adding time and if they continue to do this they will be cautioned for delaying the restart of play