Question Number: 21150

Law 15 - Throw In 4/19/2009

RE: competitive Under 18

tyler pilato of oak hill, va usa asks...

On a throw in, can your feet be in the field of play (during release) as long as some part of your foot is on the line? ie both of your heels are on the line but the rest of your feet are on the field on release.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Here is what the Law (Law 15 - The Throw-in) says, and it's pretty simple and clear:

Procedure
At the moment of delivering the ball, the thrower:
? faces the field of play
? has part of each foot either on the touch line or on the ground
outside the touch line
? holds the ball with both hands
? delivers the ball from behind and over his head
? delivers the ball from the point where it left the field of play
All opponents must stand no less than 2 m (2 yds) from the point at
which the throw-in is taken.
The ball is in play when it enters the field of play.
After delivering the ball, the thrower must not touch the ball again
until it has touched another player.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

only the smallest part of each heel has to be in contact with any portion of the touch line to be legal

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If I need to crouch down to see daylight between the heel and 5 inch touchline sounds a lot like trivial to me but yes you are correct. Some part of the foot must in theory remain on or behind the touchline! A simple method to get the ball into play the correct location from the touchline is of bigger concern then foot position in my opinion'
Cheers