Question Number: 24724

Law 13 - Free Kicks 3/22/2011

RE: Allstars Under 13

Tony of Tulare, ca usa asks...

This question is a follow up to question 24684

Same scenario as original question.........

Indirect Free kick awarded to red team just outside penalty area. Red player A taps the ball on top, no movement. Red player B runs up and shoots. Kepper for Blue team slaps the ball down into penalty area.

Everything above is nullified after red player B takes the shot because the referree has blown the whistle against red team for not touching the ball twice. Arguing that the ball must make a full rotation on red player A's touch.

I argued this at first because I thought the tap was sufficient, I later found out that the ball must be 'kicked and moved'.

After further review, although the ref was correct that the ball must 'move' when red player A touches it, he was wrong about the full rotation and further wrong to blow the play dead because the goalie for blue team slapping the ball down is considered a 2nd touch, therefor the ball was still live ??? Am I right ???

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tony
The requirement for the ball to move its circumference has long since been removed from the Laws of the Game. The ball is in play when it is kicked and moved.
In this case the tap on top of the ball by Red player A did not put the ball into play. However the shot by Red player B did put the ball into play so there is no need for the referee to intervene and play should have been allowed to continue. That is based on the assumption that Player B only touched the ball once. If the ball entered the goal directly from the indirect free kick the referee would disallow the goal and the restart is a goal kick.
So both of you were wrong!!

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Some people, a few referees included, think that an indirect free kick must 'look like' an indirect free kick, at least their notion of what that is. Their view is that the kick must travel a short distance, and then another player must kick it a long distance. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If Player A's tap doesn't put the ball into play (which it doesn't) then Player B's boot does put the ball into play. Had it gone directly into the goal as in the question you referenced, the goal doesn't count because it was scored directly.

Nobody complains when a defender takes an indirect kick after an offside call and boots it half the length of the field or more. Why do people think inbound IFK's must have some specific mechanic? Whatever kick moves the ball is the kick that puts it into play. After that, the only thing we're concerned about is whether a goal is scored directly from that kick.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

While a tap on the top of the ball no longer constitutes 'kicked and moved', when the second player blasted the ball, he put the ball in play. Since this was an indirect free kick, had the ball entered the net untouched, a goal kick would have been awarded.

The referee made a serious error by stopping play. The ball was 'live' when the second player kicked it. When the keeper touched it, that satisfied the requirement to allow a goal. Had the keeper slapped the ball and it had gone into the net, a goal should have been awarded.

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

See Question: 24734