Question Number: 22914

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/8/2010

RE: rec Adult

y citerneschi of sechelt, b.c canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 101

A goalie slides out of the box with the ball in his hands. Is it a yellow?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Citerneschi
This is not a caution as the goalkeeper collected the ball inside the penaty area which he is entitled to do and then slid outside the PA. It is a free kick only as no goalkeeper would be expected to release the ball from his grasp in this situation.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Now why would a caution even be considered in these circumstances?

Did the keeper do this on purpose? Doubtful - no keeper deliberately exits the penalty area with the ball in his hands, even though his hands are deliberately on the ball. So is he cheating by doing this? Again, unlikely - it is just one of those unfortunate occurrences that will happen on fields that are wet or muddy.

Cautions are to punish players for misdeeds akin to cheating or other behavior that brings the game into disrepute - like standing in front of the ball or the kicker on an opponent's free kick.

What the keeper has done here is nothing more than a deliberately handled ball and the restart should be a DFK from where the ball exited the penalty area in his hands. No caution is warranted unless there are circumstances you have not included.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Deliberately handling the ball should only be a caution if it's a tactical foul - that is, if he's done it to break up an attack, or to score a goal.

Neither of these apply to the keeper - as with the ball already legally in his hands, there is no attack to have broken up.

Simply a direct free kick.

Bear in mind that these things are considered at the location of the ball - that is, even if the keeper slides most of his body outside of the penalty area but the ball remains inside or on the line, then no offence has occurred.

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