Question Number: 19742

Law 13 - Free Kicks 8/13/2008

RE: USSF 08 Adult

David Ogrin of New Braunfels, Texas USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 19716

Great question because this is one I do see all the time.

I reckon the touch [in 19716] where the ball quivers but does not move actually becomes sort of moot. If I read the Law correctly, and read the comments correctly, this touch is nothing.

The first touch is the kick the second player takes. If the ball goes directly into goal it should be a goal kick. Same if the kick goes past the goal line without being touched.

If the keeper or any other player touches it and goes in, assuming no other infraction, it is a goal.

If it goes off the keeper or defender past the goal line not in the goal it is a corner kick.

If the ball stays in play it is in play.

Now here is my real follow up question. Is the first attempted touch any kind of infraction? I see all kinds of possible bad situations because players, coaches, and parents don't know the Law.

My second question is how does the esteemed panel handle it?

Later.

David

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

David, I have to guess at what you are saying. It seems you are talking about an indirect free kick (IFK). I suppose you also mean an IFK taken which is not in the defenders' penalty area and taken by the defenders. The Law says that the ball is in play when it is kicked and moves. I fail to see how something can quiver and not move all at the same time. If the referee sees the ball kicked and quiver it is in play. Now if the referee deems that the ball not kicked if a player now plays the ball twice, it is an IFK against him.

You ask what sanction a referee is to give for a player kicking and quivering the ball. This is not an infraction. The infraction comes in the next phase of play.

Secondly you ask how the panel would handle it. I would personally either deem the kick to have been taken and let play go on or deem that the ball has not been kicked by the original player and see what happens. If the second attacker now dribbles the ball, i. e. plays it twice, I would call it a foul.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

There is no foul or infraction called 'not kicking and moving the ball', unless the team is excessively delaying the restart. If the referee decides that the first touch of the ball does not qualify as 'kicked and moved', then the next touch of the ball is considered. Once 'kicked and moved', the ball is now in play. If it was an indirect kick, there has to be another touch of the ball before a goal can be scored. The referee will continue to hold her arm in the air until that second touch happens. If the ball goes in the net before that, then it is no goal. As it was kicked across the line by the attacking team and no goal was scored, the restart is a goal kick.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

David, Ref. Nagy is Canadian based and is not required to follow the policies and guidance of US Soccer's Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game as a US based referee is. If he believes touching the top of the ball and making it shake or quiver qualifies as kicked and moved his national organisation seems OK with that. I am not in agreement with that opinion and my disagreement is based on this historical fact: to be in play the ball was kicked and moved the distance of its circumference until 1997. After that it was kicked and moved.

Once the International FA Board wrote 'The ball is in play when it is kicked and moved' many referees assumed that they meant tapped and wiggled, not so. What was meant was so many referees didn't allow the ball to roll the distance of its circumference before they allowed it to be touched again so to make things more consistent moving a bit was just fine, so long as it was kicked and moved from here to there.

Once the ball is kicked and moved it is in play and my arm goes down indicating such. If it is shaken, quivered, tapped, wiggled or otherwise stomped on without a kicking motion of the foot it ain't in play and according to the Laws a goal is not scored if it enters the goal, my arm remains raised to indicate it is not in play.

The reason so many players, coaches and parents don't know the Law is because so many referees out there don't have the courage to enforce the Laws of the Game as they are written, they take the low road, the one that causes the less friction. Kicked and moved means what it says. Teach players that fact on every match you are assigned to. Show your contemporaries paragraph 13.5 of Advice and ask them how they can accept their match fees when they ignore their primary duty as listed in Law 5: 'Enforces the Laws of the Game'. Football is a Game in which the Referee is obligated to enforce the Law, whether he agrees with it or not, independent thinking is not authorized.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Dave, you are in Texas and bound by USSF interpretations. You may no longer consider tapping the top of the ball as movement. That said, it's not an infraction to do so. The ball simply hasn't been kicked and moved.