Question Number: 24285

Law 16 - Goal Kick 11/7/2010

RE: Level 1 Under 13

Nat Baker of Preston, Lancashire UK asks...

Whilst refereeing a game a goalkeeper took a quick goal kick to one of his team - That player was tackled without the ball leaving the penalty area - The ball was passed again without it leaving the penalty area and a defending player fouled the attacking player inside the penalty area. I awarded a penalty kick. The team manager complained to me that because the ball never left the penalty area I should have awarded a goal kick. Was I right to stick to my guns and award the penalty (which - incidentally - was missed).

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

No Nat you were NOT right to stick to your guns because the team manager was absolutely 100% correct. This is something so basic that you should never find yourself in the unenviable position where the team manager knows more of the Law than you do.

You should go read and re-read Laws 13 and 16. With ANY free kick awarded the defending team inside it's penalty area, the ball must leave the penalty area before it is in play AND before any player may touch it. This applies to Goal Kicks also. If the ball is touched before it leaves the penalty area you should immediately blow your whistle and have the kick retaken

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Nat
A foul can only be committed when the ball is in play. As the ball has not left the penalty area it is not in play and therefore a penalty or a free kick cannot be awarded. The correct restart is a goal kick. However if the referee believes that the challenge by the defender was unsporting or reckless in its own right he can caution him but it does not change the restart.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The goalkeeper was refereeing the game whilst playing in it? Odd.

Now, if the keeper was actually just playing in the game which you were refereeing, and a goal kick was awarded, then the ball cannot be back into play until it leaves the penalty area from the goal kick. If it does not leave the penalty area, we retake the goal kick. (See below)

The attacker is not supposed to enter the penalty area until the ball is in play anyway, so none of the events you described should have happened at all. The referee was not paying very close attention - and should have blown hard on the whistle as soon as the attacker entered the PA before the ball was in play. The penalty kick was a misapplication of the Laws of the Game. Fortunately it doesn't appear to have changed the outcome of the game, but it is subject to a protest by the offended team.

From Law 16:

'A goal kick is a method of restarting play.
A goal kick is awarded when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, either on the ground or in the air, having last touched a player of the attacking team, and a goal is not scored in accordance with Law 10.
A goal may be scored directly from a goal kick, but only against the opposing team.
Procedure
? The ball is kicked from any point within the goal area by a player of the defending team
? Opponents remain outside the penalty area until the ball is in play
? The kicker must not play the ball again until it has touched another player
? The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area

Infringements and sanctions
If the ball is not kicked directly out of the penalty area from a goal kick:
? the kick is retaken'