Question Number: 22848

Law 15 - Throw In 2/21/2010

RE: AYSO Under 13

Gustavo Rivera of Lake Forest, California US asks...

Is there such thing as an 'Illegal Throw in'?
I was an AR at a game and one of the home team players was getting ready to take a throw in and changed her mind walked on the field and handled the ball to a teammate with only one hand, I immediatly signaled my center ref and he did not understand my signal, so he came to me to ask me what was wrong, I explained to him that an Illegal throw in had occured but he overuled me and said that the player was only transfering the ball to her teammate, I was taught about that but I cannot find any written information about it, I don't mind been wrong or been over ruled, I'm just confused, thank you for the help. G.R.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Rivera
A throw-in is a method of restarting play and an illegal throw in is referred to as an incorrectly taken throw in. It has become known in the game as a 'foul throw' but the Law does not refer to that term.
A throw in that does not meet all the criteria set out in Law 15 is an incorrectly taken thrown in and the throw in is then taken by the opponents.

You should refresh your knowledge of Law 15 @
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law%5f15%5fthe%5fthrow%5fin%5fen%5f47365.pdf

So let say that the player throws the ball with her back to the FOP or has a foot/feet clearly over the touchline on the FOP or threw the ball in without both feet on the ground or did not deliver the ball from behind and over her head or took the TI from an incorrect place, all those would all be incorrectly taken throw ins and the TI would then be awarded to the opponents.
In your case the original thrower has decided to allow a team mate to take the TI and that should be apparent by the demeanour and the actions of the players. It is simply a toss of the ball or even a drop of the ball from behind the head so that another player can take the TI. Teams are allowed change the thrower and its does happen regularly at underage due to the lack of throwing ability by some players which can result in loss of possession or indeed some players because of their poor TI mechanics can be regularly called for taking the TI incorrectly. A common error at underage is lifting a foot high in the search for more leverage and distance.
In this case the experienced referee saw this as a simple change of thrower which is allowed under the Laws.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

As long as the players are not excessively delaying the throw, they are allowed to change their minds as to who will take it. We need to show common sense as to what the players were doing. Player A might underhand toss the ball to player B. Technically that ball was 'thrown', but it doesn't meet the sense of an incorrectly taken throw because everyone can see they didn't intend that to be the restart.

Now if A was lined up ready to throw with the ball behind her head and completes a normal legal throwing motion as part of her handing the ball to B, we will likely have a problem. It looked like a throw-in, so the opponents would have expected that to be the restart. If B then picks up the ball to take the 'real' throw-in - oops, handling.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Gustavo: You made a common mistake. An underhand toss, drop, or offer of the ball to a teammate so that the team mate can take it, is not a throw-in. The players accept that this is a normal part of the game. Unless a team is using a tactic to delay the restart of play, it is not an infringment of the laws of the game. (Even then, however, the act is punished as misconduct for delaying the restart of play, rather than an improper throw-in.)

What you recall correctly, however, is that if a throw-in is not properly performed and the ball enters the field, the restart is a throw-in awarded to the other team under Law 15.

In this case, there was no reason to do anything. The throw in is just a way to get the game restarted quickly. Except when one team is clearly cheating (for example, moving far up the line from when the ball went out of play), few throw-ins require any action.

One of the reasons this is a common mistake is that new coaches and parent/spectators who never played the game tend to focus of throw-ins as one of the few things they closely observe. Don't let them affect what you learned. Most of the things the spectators spot are doubtful or trifiling.

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

See Question: 22864