Question Number: 20648

Law 15 - Throw In 12/8/2008

RE: Recreation Under 17

Chris Neff of Elkton, MD usa asks...

At lower levels we award a throw to the other team when a player lifts his/her foot on a throw in. However many refs allow upper level players who do a run up throw to not be penalized even though their trailing foot is only on the ground for an instant. By the true definition it appears legal but doesn't seem fair.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Uhh if it's legal how is it not fair? Also, I would bet you that most of the younger kids that lift their foot do so AFTER the ball has crossed the touchline into play. The throw-in is merely a means of getting the game restarted and we spend way too much time penalizing and worrying about trifling infractions of Law 15.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The question is when is the foot lifted - before or after the throw is made? If before, then it is an infraction. If after, who cares? If you can't tell, well then why call it?

As for fairness, I'm not sure that is the issue here. In the younger/lower levels, the players are still learning the game, and so there are many foul throws, and many newer referees - so they are both learning what does and doesn't need to be called.

At upper and more skilled levels, you can bet the foot was on the ground when the ball was released 99 times out of a hundred - and if you're not sure - oops, said that already. What we SHOULD be enforcing is from where the throw is taken. Newer referees are pretty good at this, but more experienced referees tend to get lax and think it doesn't matter - but it does. It is rarely trifling to let a team throw it in from a spot more than 3 feet from where it left the field.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

On the ground for an instant is on the ground, is it not? And if that instant corresponds with the instant when the ball is released, nothing has been done incorrectly. No call for a bad throw should be made. As my colleagues remark, at the upper levels of play, the players usually are skilled enough to make those two instants be the same instant.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

The throw-in is a restart of play designed to be less effective as a kick since no foul has occurred. The ball was simply knocked out of play so we simply want to get it back into play.

At issue is newer referees seem to have a tendency to see any irregularity in the throw in as wrong or look too closely and imagine something from nothing because of the mechanics involved make it easy to spot than foul recognition situations at high speed.

The lifted foot occurs often at the same time as the ball is released and as long as the player is not jumping often hard to pinpoint exactly so it is trifling most of the time and a bit of instruction, 'both feet on the ground hands over the head' at the young ages with the mini ones even a second try help to form good habits .

Granted truly flagrant violations allowed to flourish can too often form bad habits and if they remain unchecked they will catch a stricter referee's attention and the frustration levels will escalate. The players still must conform to the basic ideology of fair play and as my colleagues have indicated rather than an incorrect form we often see the throw in originate from an incorrect spot with greater impact that a trailing foot rising off the grass.
Cheers