Question Number: 19722

Law 13 - Free Kicks 8/11/2008

Chris of Vancouver, Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 19628

In answering this question about the call of a goal kick that did not clear the penalty area, one of the panel stated the following:

'here is the real deal: the ball must go BEYOND the penalty area or it is a retake. Now 'beyond' means that it has to completely cross the 18 yd line or one of the sides of the penalty area. If it left the penalty area via the goal line, it did not go 'beyond'. Oh, and by the way, same applies to any DFK or IFK taken by the defence in their penalty area. Remember, the word is 'beyond'.'

This was probably not intended to sound this way, but the answer above could be interpreted to indicate that in addition to the same principle applying (ball must clear the penalty area), the resulting call is the same for goalkicks and free kicks. I'm quite sure that the calls for 'free kicks' as for 'goalkicks diverge in this scenario.'

If a player somehow kicks a goalkick into his own net (without the ball clearing the penalty area first), it is a retake. But if a player does the same on any free kick taken in his own penalty area, the restart is a corner kick (regardless of whether it cleared the penalty area or not). N'est pas??

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Chris I chose not to offer an answer because my colleagues had it right. Problem is there was this one 'lawyer' hole if one tends to think along those lines.

When Law 13 was simplified in 1997 it changed Law XIII by reducing the number of words leaving the meaning essentially the same: From a free kick inside a player's own penalty area the ball is in play when it is kicked and moved beyond the penalty area [into the outfield] -- my words.

Using reasoning or logic a ball kicked beyond the penalty area into touch is NOT kicked and moved into play it is kicked and moved into touch. There is no difference between the free kick called goal kick and any other free kick taken inside a player's own penalty area.

I hope that quells your thoughts a corner kick rather than retake is the result when the ball is not kicked directly beyond the penalty area.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 13 says, 'the ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area'. The same words are used in Law 16 for a goal kick. So clearly the ball must exit the area. If it didn't do that, then it was not put into play. Since it was not put into play, the restart remains the same - a retake of the kick - because defined the restart didn't happen.

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

See Question: 19739