Question Number: 25123

Law 16 - Goal Kick 6/21/2011

RE: competive Adult

andrew of rodney, auckland new zealand asks...

Hi, just a question that has occured a couple of times in my sons under 16 school soccer games.
When the opposition goal keeper is taking a goal kick he has been kicking it to one of his own defenders inside his own 18 yard box.
What should happen??
1) the kick to be retaken.
2) an indirect free kick given to the attacking team at the point where the defender receives and touches the ball.
It seems like a time wasting ploy and as far as i know the ball must travel outside of the goal area before it can be played at from a goal kick.
cheers,
Andrew.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 16 (Goal Kick) says, 'The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area'. If that does not happen, the kick is retaken.

It could be that the players do this in order to waste time, but that can be addressed by adding time on to compensate. Only if they repeat it several times would I consider a caution.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Andrew
The ball must leave the penalty area on all kicked restarts by the defending team before it is in play. Any ball that is touched inside the penalty area by any player results in a retaken kick.
There is no need for any disciplinary action to be taken unless the action was done deliberately to delay the restart of play. That is unlikely so the referee simply adds on the time to compensate. The demeanour of the defending team and the circumstances will inform the referee what is happening and he will decide accordingly.

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