Question Number: 24415

Law 13 - Free Kicks 12/13/2010

RE: Select Under 15

mark hetherington of Barrow, England asks...

If you are awarded a free kick in your own penalty area for an offside offense and the player playing right fullback passes the ball to the left fullback to take it from where the offside offense had taken place. The player stops the ball picks it up to place it down, then the referee gives a penalty for the opposition. Firstly its a diabolical decision!! put does the ball have to leave the penalty area for the ball to be back in play. Therefore the game hasn't even restarted yet. there was no seeking to gain any advantage just taking the free kick from the correct spot.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The ball must leave the penalty area to be in play for any free kick for the defending team that begins inside the team's own penalty area. If the ball is touched before it leaves the penalty area, the kick must be retaken under Law 13.

What sometimes happens, however, is that a team chooses to put the ball into play outside the penalty area. (For restarts after an offside decision, referees often do not strictly enforce the requirement for the location of the restart for an offside offense that is deep inside the defensive third treating any infringement as trifling. Note: the correct location for the restart is where the attacking player was located when the ball was kicked, not where the player in offside position touched the ball. ) When the defender subsequently picks up the ball inside the penalty area, a penalty kick may be awarded for the ball is already in play.

Referees need to use a feel for the game to decide whether the ball has been put in play or is simply being sent to the correct spot for the free kick. You may recall some controversy in the EPL this season when the referee accepted an initial kick of the ball as putting it into play and the 'pass back' was intercepted by an opponent who scored.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
Referee Wickham alludes to the Liverpool v Sunderland game where the referee deemed that the kick by the Sunderland player put the ball into play and that it was intercepted by Torres. Clearly the Sunderland team and management did not agree with the decision yet play was allowed to continue.
Therein lay a lesson for all players. When kicking the ball, do not do so in a manner that looks like the ball is being put into play.
When one looks more closely at these situations one finds that it is not as simple as players believe. Mix in a forward who chases after the ball assuming that it is in play by what looks like a deliberate kick of the ball and then a player does not play the ball or picks the ball up which looks like perhaps that he does in fact not want to play the ball but would rather that the free kick is taken again with less pressure. What is the referee to do? Does he agree with the attacker or the defender? If all the conditions for the free kick are correct such as ball at rest, close to where the offence took place and the ball is kicked to a player is it in play? Only the referee can judge that decision based on the circumstances.
Clearly the ball must leave the penalty area on any restart for the ball to be play. I suspect that is not the issue at question in this situation but where was the correct place to take the free kick from and did the referee believe that the kick met all the conditions of putting the ball in play.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Mark, I read some anger in your statement. Actually you are so angry that you even forgot to ask a question!
The fact is that the ball is not in play unless it kicked outside the penalty area. I understand that the first kick originated from INSIDE the penalty area and it did not leave the area before the left fullback picked up the ball. The ref erred, plain and simple. It is a simple retake. However if the kick somehow traveled or came from outside the area, then sure enough it is a PK.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The referee clearly does not know Law 13 which states that any free kick taken by a team inside it's own penalty area is not in play until the ball leaves the penalty area.
You are correct, it sounds like the decision to assume the first player was attempting to take the kick was wrong, but it doesn't matter. The ball never was in play so there could be no offense of deliberately handling the ball and no PK awarded.
Bad referee procedure all the way around.
That said. Did your first player that 'passed' the ball to his teammate to take the kick, pass it to him from OUTSIDE the penalty area? If he did and the referee deemed he had actually played the ball, then a PK must be awarded