Question Number: 24987

Law 15 - Throw In 5/21/2011

RE: High School Under 17

Aldo Baietti of McLean, Virginia Usa asks...

Last Wednesday my son's varsity soccer team played the leader in it's district. They have won most of their games from headers assured by a exceptionally long throw in from the sidelines. The irony is that the one of the two fellows on that team has 18 assists from this technique. The throw in seems perfectly legal. He takes a running start and has both feet on the ground when throwing the ball over his head. Today my son and I tried to duplicate the technique and realized that you can only accomplish this (ie. Able to throw it with precision right to the middle of the box) not by placing your hands directly acrorss horizontally (ie on the sides of the ball) but placing one hand slightly closer to the rear of the ball. Somewhat like the placement of the hands in a basketball jump shot but, not as extreme. With this technique one can throw the ball with significant force for more than 30 yards and since high schools fields where we live are slightly wider than football fields, this thrower was able to pick his placement anywhere in the box. The question! Is this a legal throw and if it is, why do we not see it in pro soccer?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The laws don't require that the hands are place at the same point on both sides of the ball, or even that they're on the sides of the ball - many players will place their hands mostly behind the ball. Soccer simply isn't that technical a game to be concerned about these minor details - even if it were, it would be almost impossible for the referee to spot.

As long as both hands are used, and all other criteria are met, there's no problem. It would only be an issue if one hand was behind the ball and the other hand was used for nothing more than balancing the ball on this other hand.

As to why so few players try to throw it into the box - perhaps at higher levels this becomes a relatively unsuccessful technique for reasons I can only guess at.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aldo
As desribed this is a legal throw. The Law requires that at the moment of delivering the ball, the thrower holds the ball with both hands.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

It is a legal throw. There was a player on my son's high school team who was a long throw-in specialist. His secret: strong core muscles.

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

See Question: 25426