Question Number: 25436

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/16/2011

RE: JR. High Under 14

Chris Fiarkoski of Sheldon, VT USA asks...

I was coaching a game and the other team kicked the ball back to their goalie. My player and their goalie were attacking the ball. Their goalie was trying to pick it up. The ball touched the goalie hand first. the ref called hand ball. We were given an inderect kick right outside the goal. My player just kicked it towards the goal hitting off their goalie. It was ruled no goal. Was this call right? Hope this makes sense. Thanks.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Regarding indirect free kicks, Law 13 says, 'A goal can be scored only if the ball subsequently touches another player before it enters the goal'. Since the goalkeeper is a player, the goal should have been counted. You should report this decision so that the referee can receive further training and not make the mistake again.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

I'll also point out that if the free kick was awarded for the keeper deliberately handling the ball outside the penalty area, then the restart should have been a direct free kick, not an indirect free kick.

As for having the goal disallowed, next time this happens it may be helpful to, after a short period of time has elapsed after the match, calmly approach the referee and ask him why the goal was disallowed.

I can think of several reasons why he may not have been happy with the free kick and ordered it retaken, but I can't imagine why the goal would be disallowed if it's none of those.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Chris
When the ball is deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team mate the goalkeeper may not touch the ball with his hand inside the penalty area. Should he do so it is an indirect free kick from where he touched the ball with his hand/s.
On an indirect free kick a goal may not be scored directly. This means that a goal can be scored only if the ball subsequently touches another player before it enters the goal. In this case the ball touched the GK and the goal should have been ruled good.
Now the explanations as to why the goal was disallowed could be that the referee did not see the ball touch the goalkeeper, the IDFK was taken from the wrong place, there was some infringement of the restart such the ball moving etc or indeed the referee was unsure of the law.
You do not mention what the restart was which would rule out some reasons.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee did not call deliberate handling of the ball, a direct free kick foul or penalty kick. The keeper cannot commit this foul inside the keeper's own penalty area. Not possible.

The foul is the indirect free kick foul of a keeper touching the ball after it has been deliberately kicked by a teammate. A goal can be scored only if the ball touches another player, which includes the opposing goal keeper.

If the free kick deflected off the keeper into the goal, there are only two reasons I can see to disallow the goal absent a referee error: the referee didn't see the deflection and assumed that the ball was not touched by another player (restart goal kick), the restart was taken in the wrong place (restart is to retake the kick in the correct spot).

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