Question Number: 26652

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/19/2012

RE: Competive High School

Erez of Haifa, Haifa Israel asks...

Hello,

The 'Fifa questions and answers' document says that if a player standing inside his own penalty area throws an object at an opponent standing outside the penalty area, the decision should be direct free kick taken from the place where the offence occurred, e.g. where
the object struck or would have struck the opponent.
It also says, that if a player standing outside his own penalty area throws an object at an opponent standing inside the penalty area, the decision must be a penalty kick.

These two examples made me think that the decision about 'where the foul happend' is taken by the place where the object strucked the opponent.

But then I read another question, that asks: 'A player throws an object at a person seated in the technical area. What action does the referee take?'

By the above logic, I think that the place of the foul is the place where the object strucked the person. That means, the place of the foul is in the technical area, which means it's outside the field and the decision must be a dropped ball.
But the answer is an indirect free kick taken from where the object was
thrown.


I whould like to understand the exact rule about throwing objects, where is the foul committed in each case, and why?

Thanks

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Erez
IFAB has tried to bring uniformity to restarts involving violent conduct incidents, off and on the field of play. At one time the offence was deemed to have happened where it was started and also if it involved persons off the field of play it was a dropped ball. That brought all sorts of problems plus the dropped ball was not a playing sanction so it was changed to the IDFK. The Laws now includes the situation where a player deliberately leaves the field of play to commit VC which is also an IDFK while if the player was entitled to be there and play was stopped it is a dropped ball.
So in general if the offence happens on the field of play it is a free kick from where the offence happened ie the point of contact and if it happens off the field of play it is an IDFK from where the ball was when play was stopped. Other situations where play is stopped to include persons not involved in the game off the FOP is a dropped ball from where the ball was when play was stopped.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Something that happens off the field of play cannot be a foul; it can only be misconduct. In general the restart for misconduct that happens off the field of play is a dropped ball, at the position where the ball was when play was stopped. (If play was already stopped, the restart was already determined by that stoppage.)

There is one exception for the restart though, and that is for cases in which a player has left the field of play to commit violent conduct. In that case the restart is an IFK at the spot the ball was when play was stopped. (This is found on p. 124 of the 2012-13 version of the Laws of the Game.) USSF extended this to when the player leaves the field to commit any type of misconduct.

When objects are thrown, the site of the offense is where the object struck (or would have struck) the target. Since it would be violent conduct for a player to throw an object at someone off the field, the restart is in accordance with leaving the field to commit misconduct. IFAB is not inconsistent on this one.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The location of the restart for a foul (striking) using a thrown object is where the target was located. But, by definition, a foul requires an act against an opposing player on the field of play.

Thus, when the target is a spectator or someone off the field of play, the action is not a foul. It is still punished as misconduct. The restart for misconduct by a player on the field of play, however, is the location of the act of misconduct - - where the thrower was located.