Question Number: 26536

Law 17 - Corner Kick 7/5/2012

RE: Select Under 15

Megan of NS, NS Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26521

Hi:

To answer some of your questions, I will give a run through of exactly what happened. For simplicity sake we will refer to the teams as 1 and 2. 1 receives a corner kick and asks the referee if it's ok for her to remove then replace the corner flag. The referee gives her full consent. Play then starts by the kick being taken, and 2 getting possession, playing a high pass to another 2 player in their own goal area, and a handball taking place. The referee calls a penalty shot. Before the kick is taken, 2's coaches begin pretty much verbally assaulting the assistant. He repetitively informs them that it was the referee's decision to allow the player to remove the flag, however they continually scream at him until he has no choice but to ask the referee to explain her decision. Eventually, she reverses the decision and tells 1 that they need to take the corner again, resulting in an easy clearance by 2. Hoping that answers yor questions.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Megan
That explains it.
The referee here was wrong to allow the removal of the corner flag and the coaches probably knew this.
Technically as the referee consented to the removal and play had restarted with the corner kick then the penalty kick should have been allowed.
The on field application is another matter though and perhaps the assistant referee told the referee that she was wrong to consent to the removal which no doubt influenced here decision to go with a retake. Also dealing with irate coaches on a confirmed mis application of the Law is never an easy task.
The learning point here for your team is to not remove the corner flag or ask for its removal. I'm sure the kicker could easily have taken the kick in a similar way with the flag present.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Megan, and thanks for your clarification.

The incident, and the way it was managed, strikes me as a potential lack of experience on the referee's part.

Whether the corner kick should have stood or should have be retaken could certainly be debated - as the referee has allowed a restart to occur when the field no longer meets the requirements of the laws of the game, the argument could be made that the restart wasn't valid, thus justifying the retake - however, I could also find arguments in favour of allowing the penalty kick to stand as well.