Question Number: 21541

Law 15 - Throw In 6/14/2009

RE: competive Under 14

john brooks of ipswich, queensland australia asks...

my son play on saturday and the team he was playing kept foul throwing from throw ins,when i question the lineman he said they can throw it in on one foot if they wanted too as long it came from the back of the head.i told him to look at the rules and was giving a warning later in the game a player threw the ball in to himself and score the linesman said they can do that anytime they like,is this true?i have played and watched soccer of 35 years and have never seen this all heard of this happing.thanking you.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Hopefully this was a club linesman, not a neutral assistant referee appointed to the match. Still, one wonders what the center referee was thinking.

You are correct, the proper mechanics for a throw-in include having at least part of each foot on the ground, on or outside the touchline. And like any restart taken by a player, the thrower cannot touch the ball a second time until it is touched by another player.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The only one who should be asking questions of the assistant referee during the match is the referee; nor should the assistant referee be responding to dissent (even in the form of a "question"). The answer you received, however, was incomplete. Both feet must be on the ground when the ball is released over the head.

There are two reasons why a referee will not stop play for what appears to be foul throws. First, some infringements are doubtful. Experiments with time lapsed photography have shown that people will perceive that a foot which actually came off the ground AFTER the moment the ball was released as if it was up during the release. The throwing technique might appear odd, but be proper.

Second (and more common), many infringements are trifling. A throw-in is just a way to get the match restarted quickly. When a fair throw-in travels the same distance and to same location (and is lost to the opponent as quickly) as the foul one, the infringement made no difference. What is never a trifling offense, IMO, is the cheat on the location of the throw. A throw-in five or ten yards further up the line can make a big difference and the proper locations needs to be enforced.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Here's what the LOTG say:

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 fi eld of play.
After delivering the ball, the thrower must not touch the ball again
until it has touched another player.

The person you spoke with was hopefully not a certified referee. If he was, he needs retraining asap. There is no excuse for letting a player throw the ball to himself. That's just simply not allowed. What the AR should have said about raising a foot was that oftentimes the ball has left the throwers hands before the foot has been raised or that slightly raising the foot before the ball is thrown is considered to be trifling.

Way too much importance is given to problems with throw-ins. The throw-in is simply a way to get play restarted and minor infractions should not be whistled except at the lowest levels of play where we are still instructing the young players/

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

See Question: 21684