Question Number: 21995

Law 1- The Field 9/17/2009

RE: Club Soccer Under 13

Ken McMahon of Dublin, Ohio USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 21971

Thanks to all who provided input. For clarification, if a league specifies that the center circle is to have an 8 yard radius (I am not as concerned with whether it is a perfect circle, etc.), is that enough of a 'stated in the rules' to imply that ALL free kicks should have an eight yard requirement rather than 10?

To me it seems inconsistent that we would require one distance for one type of free kick (kickoff), but another for all other free kicks. If the league states that the kickoff free kick requires 8 yards (based on the size of the center circle by that league's rule), it seems to make sense that all free kicks should require the same 8 yards.

But, then again, common sense is not always so common.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee needs to know the rules of the competition, particularly for short sided matches. Having lined fields, I know better than to trust that the lines themselves mean a certain rule applies.

I've never seen a league rule that specified an 8 yard center circle but did not also include the same distance on free kicks. If the league rule were silent, however, I would follow the laws of the game and use 10 yards as the distance.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I agree. Unless specified in league modifications, I'd stick with 10 yards as required by LOTG