Question Number: 19841

Law 15 - Throw In 8/29/2008

Greg of Toronto, Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 19537

What if a player takes a throw-in back to his own goalie, the ball goes off the goalie's hands and into his own net?

Does the 'pass back to the goalie' rule come into play before the ball goes into the net?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Greg,

The quick answer is A GOAL and to your second question NO. The passback is a myth of poor terminology, it is not illegal to pass a ball back to the keeper the indfk offence of the illegal use of the keeper's hands per law 12 to play the ball with his hands via a team mate kick or on a DIRECT throw in from his team mates are subject to the advantage clause in law 5 where the observant referee will delay his whistle, recognizing the keeper's touch has unsuccessfuly kept the ball out of his own goal.

The result is a goal is awarded and we restart with a kick off.

IF the thrower had pursued the ball and touched the ball a SECOND time before ANY other player of either team, even if he kicked or knocked that ball into his OWN goal the indfk for that second touch if kicked or a DFK if deliberately handled PK if inside the penalty area is the restart as NO goal could be awarded because it is an impossibility to score on yourself DIRECTLY from ANY restart!

The keeper although he commits an indfk offence of an illegal touch the ball has not been allowed to directly enterthe goal it was put in play by a team mate's throw after the restart and indirectly went into the goal off the keeper thus advantage applies!

Keep in mind advantage could apply to the indfk offence of a keeper using his own hands to regrab a ball a second time, that was already in play after a release because it is NOT a restart.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

There is no 'passback' rule and besides, this is a throw-in. That said, the keeper is not allowed to handle a ball directly thrown to him by a teammate. That's in Law 12. If he does, an indirect free kick is awarded to the opponents. However, Law 5 gives the referee the power to ignore any breeches of Law 12 if it is advantageous to the fouled team to do so. Nothing is more advantageous than a goal so the wise referee will notice the proximity of the keeper to the goal and refrain from blowing his whistle when the contact is made between the keeper's hands and the ball and allow the goal. The foolish referee will immediately blow the whistle thus stopping play before the ball goes into the net and will have to take the ball out of the net, disallow the goal and award an indirect free kick to the opponents.