Question Number: 22022

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/20/2009

frank Stanton of ketchum, ID USA asks...

In an EPL game yesterday between Villa and Portsmouth a defender flicked the ball up to himself and headed it back to his own keeper. (The ref allowed the play )In High school rules this is NOT allowed as it is considered trickery to go around the no pass back rule.My question is -is that move legal in FIFA rules?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

In the Interpretations and Guidelines section of the Laws, it says it is unsporting behavior (caution) if a player 'uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play to pass the ball to his own goalkeeper with his head, chest, knee etc. in order to circumvent the Law, irrespective of whether the goalkeeper touches the ball with his hands or not. The offence is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of Law 12 and play is restarted with an indirect free kick.'

Evidently the referee in the EPL didn't feel this action fell into the realms of trickery.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Perhaps th refere held the opinion the ball deflected up unintentionally and he player simply took advantage of it or if the opposition was unaffected in there was no one around it could be overlooked as trifling but FIFA specifically states it is a cautionable misconduct if a player
uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play to pass the ball to his own goalkeeper with his head, chest, knee etc. in order to circumvent the Law, irrespective of whether the goalkeeper touches the ball with his hands or not. The offence is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of Law 12 and play is restarted with an indirect free kick.
The referee maybe was feeling magnanimous that day!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Frank
The move is illegal as it is considered trickery and circumventing the rule which is commonly referred to as the 'backpass law' even though the direction of the pass is irrelevant. I personally did not see the incident but there could be a number of reasons why it was allowed
1. The ball flipped up as part of normal play and the player took advanatage of that by heading it back.
2. The rule was introduced to prevent time wasting by goalkeepers and the ploy of passing the ball back constantly. Some refs in the 'spirit of the game', use the law for the purpose it was intended and when the ball is put back into play quickly without protest allow play to continue. I would normally not expect to see a PL Ref or a FIFA badged ref allowing it.
3. It so rarely happens that maybe he was 'surprised', wasn't sure what happened and just allowed play to continue.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

If the player did exactly what you describe I am very surprised the referee allowed. This specific action has appeared in earlier editions of The Laws Of The Game as the 'trickery' of which we all speak. FIFA is absolutely clear that this action is not allowed. It should also be noted that it doesn't matter what the keeper does. The trickery is misconduct and play stops at the point the trickery occurred. The player is cautioned, shown the yellow card, and an indirect free kick is awarded the opponents at the point of the trickery subject to the rules for ball placement found in Law 13.