Question Number: 25000

Law 14 - Penalty kick 5/23/2011

RE: Rec Adult

Brent Kinal of Voorheesville, New York US asks...

I asked this question a couple weeks ago and it looks like it may have been lost in cyberspace. A penalty kick is awarded to the blue team the the ball is placed on the penalty mark by the ref and before the ref blows his whistle the blue team's kicker kicks the ball which is blocked by the goalie. The ref orders that the penalty kick be retaken since he had not blown the whistle. Is this the correct call? If it is the correct call what's to prevent every penalty kicker from taking a quick shot to 'test' the goalie before taking the shot that counts? Never mind that it could be dangerous to the goalie were he not paying attention.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The penalty kick must be retaken when the kicker does not wait for the whistle, regardless of the outcome. What stops the kicker from doing it every time is that, after a warning, the kicker would be cautioned for doing it again.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Every referee at the taking of every penalty kick after identifying the kicker should say loud and clear so everyone hears; "wait for my whistle. Got that. Wait for my whistle" the entire time pointing at his/her whistle. The kicker wants to take the kick before the whistle after being told to wait twice, I see no reason not to caution him.

Is the kicker getting a second chance? Yes he is which, to me, is all the more reason to caution him. I would like to see IFAB change this to "if the kicker takes the kick before the whistle is blown, an IDFK is awarded the opponents at the penalty mark". After all, IFAB has, in their wisdom, seen fit to punish the taker of the penalty kick for the seemingly benign infraction of backheeling the ball which doesn't even put the ball into play by awarding an IDFK. When the kicker flagrantly cheats by taking the kick before the whistle, why give him another shot?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The kick must be retaken when the kicker does not wait for the referee''s signal. If it is done deliberately the kicker can be cautioned

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Well thanks for resubmitting - this is question number 25000 on this site!

There must be a whistle before the kicker can proceed on a penalty kick. Sometimes a player might be so keyed up about the kick she will go early, and the kick must be retaken, regardless of the result of the kick. I had one this week that took the kick before I could even identify which player was going to take it and tell him to wait for my whistle.

If it appears to be a deliberate act, or certainly if the kick is taken early more than once, a caution for unsporting behavior is in order.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The PK must be retaken if the kicker kicked or started his run before the whistle blew, because the Law says it must. Not waiting for the whistle can be self correcting if the ball went in the goal, but because the kicker went early, there is no goal!

If the kicker is going early, the referee should not blow the whistle, but should wait until the kick is taken and then step in and order the retake. Caution if necessary or warranted, but that is not always necessary, especially if a goal is not allowed.

Do they get a second bite at the apple? It seems that way, but not really, since the first one didn't count, and now both sides have more info then they did the first time.

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

See Question: 28418