Question Number: 24400

Law 13 - Free Kicks 12/3/2010

RE: Competitive Under 12

Mike of Phoenix, AZ Maricopa asks...

The ref correctly called an IDF after penalty outside the penalty arc. Attacking player 1 runs parallel to the goal line and 'taps' the ball (ball does not roll) and continues forward. Attacker 2 then shoots the ball into the goal. The ref awarded a goal kick to the opposing team and explained that the goal kick was awarded to the defending team because the ball did not make a complete rotation prior to attacker 2 striking the ball.

Is this a correct call?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
The requirement for the ball to make a full rotation was removed from the Laws of the Game in the great rewrite of 1997 and it was replaced with 'kicks and moves' for the ball to be put into play.
Now a tap by say touching the top of the ball is not a kick nor has the ball moved.
In the scenario you describe the referee has to decide if in fact the tap was a kick and the ball did move. If it did then the correct decision is a goal. The referee was wrong to state that it had to make a full rotation but may have been correct if in fact the ball did not move from its position. Having said that it is not easy for a player to run and tap the ball for it not to move.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It was a correct call but for the wrong reason. 'Full rotation' was removed in 1997, and replaced with 'kicks and moved'. USSF has interpreted moved to mean 'from here to there'; there must be some discernable change in location. A wobble from a tap on top of the ball does not qualify.

You stated that the ball was tapped and did not move. That first touch did not put the ball into play. Therefore the second touch, the shot into net, was the one that put the ball into play. It did not satisfy the requirements for an indirect free kick.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The issue is whether the 'tap' of the ball by the first kicker was enough to put the ball in play so that the goal was scored after the ball touched another player (the second attacker). The ball is in play when it is 'kicked' and 'moves.'

Only the referee can judge whether both occurred, using a feel for the game. There obviously is a difference between a player using the foot to position the ball before the kick and the taking of a kick. The USSF teaches that a mere tap on the top of the ball with the bottom of the foot is not a 'kick.' While very little movement is required for 'moves,' there must be some movement, however slight.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

For 3 years now this 'tapping the top of the ball with the bottom of the foot' has expressly and specifically been decided officially by the USSF as NOT constituting 'kicked and moved' so the ball has not been put into play until it has been kicked into the goal.

This referee must not have been to a recertification course since 1997 or slept through them because 'making a complete rotation' was written out of the Laws at that time.

For many years, tapping the ball sufficed because the Laws of Physics tell us movement has occurred. However, that policy was changed 3 years ago and now a 'kicking motion' must be employed and the ball has to move 'from here to there'. Tapping the ball does neither. A goal kick was correctly awarded but as Ref Voshol states, for he wrong reason