Question Number: 26216

Law 1- The Field 4/23/2012

RE: Rec Under 11

Aaron of Stanford, Kentucky US asks...

In a recent sat/sun tourny we had pool play on sat and then single elimination on sun. We played three games on sat with different ref teams for each game. Each ref team used the penalty spot as marked on the field. On sun we had a different ref team for our first game. We were awarded a penalty kick and my assistant coach said he thought the ball wasnt on the penalty mark but wasnt sure. Our shot banged off the bottom of the crossbar and was cleared by the keeper. Minutes later we were awarded a second penalty kick and i observed the ref moving the ball further back from the penalty spot. I protested and he said he walked it off and the spot is wrong. Our second shot banged off the bottom of the crossbar and was cleared. No other ref altered the ball position for penalty kicks and we actually lost a game in pool play due to a penalty kick. All spots were same on all fields all other refs used spots as marked. So who is right? Shouldnt the coaches have been notified during warmups instead of during the match? When asked the distance of the marked spot vs his placement his response was simply he was right. I ask if his spot was at 8 or 12 yards and he said neither and gave me a warning. We lost the match by a goal. Any comments or advice?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
Any incorrect penalty marking should be altered before play begins so that the penalty mark is in the correct position. Perhaps it was not possible for the referee to arrange for the alterations before play began in which case the referee's judgement of the correct distance can be used.
I recall making a pre match inspection mistake in an U12 game this season where I failed to see that the two penalty marks were not clearly marked. The game went to kicks from the penalty mark and I simply paced out 12 yards and made a clear mark with my cleat at 12 yards. Each player was told to use the mark and there was not one complaint. I would have done the same in the game had a penalty been awarded.
Unless there is a competition rule that says otherwise in underage the penalty mark is 12 yards.
Perhaps this referee was on top of the situation where he knew exactly the competition rule and that he did his job properly before kick off to know that the markings were incorrect. A referee is not going to change from the mark unless he is confident that he is correct nor is he going to say that 12 yards is incorrect unless he knows otherwise .
I would suspect that other referees might not have bothered to check or if they did simply went with the actual penalty mark. Funnily enough no one will question a penalty kick taken from an incorrect penalty mark and therein is a conundrum for the referee to deal with. Go with the incorrect actual marking with no debate or go with the 'correct' location away from the penalty mark and have a huge debate. One only has to watch players at the highest level debate about inches and whether the ball is on the mark to know just how difficult this can be

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

It's an interesting question, and I've had this debate with my colleagues.

When the field is incorrectly marked, what should the referee do? Take the penalty from the incorrectly marked location, or take it from the correct spot and ignore the marking?

I believe that 2 wrongs don't make a right, so it's more important to take the kick from the spot that's 12 yards out of goal and in the centre, than it is to take it from the marked spot, for appearance's sake.

Often referees forget to check the distance of the penalty spot (or even whether it's in the centre), and some would take it from that spot whereever it's marked.

If the field was incorrectly marked then I believe the referee who ensured the ball was in the right location ,rather than the marked location, is the one who's done the right thing and not the other referees. Of course, there's the question of why he didn't do it for the first one, but if he realised his error after the first one he shouldn't repeat the mistake just to equalise the first error.

No reason to notify the coaches of this. Of course the pitch markings should've been adjusted, but this isn't always practical.

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

See Question: 26245