Question Number: 27220

Law 13 - Free Kicks 3/3/2013

RE: 2 Under 15

Adam Brown of Bramhall, Cheshire UK asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26046

Attack are offside in opposition box. Ref blows for indirect free kick.

Defender gets down on knees and heads ball to restart to goalkeeper who picks it up.

Allowed?

This happened twice today against us...

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Not allowed. The ball is not in play until it is kicked and moves. Heading is not kicking.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Adam
There are two errors here.
1. On any free kick inside the penalty area the ball must leave the penalty area to be in play. Many believe that this only applies to goal kicks. Not so and it also applies to all defensive free kicks.
2. When a player uses a deliberate trick to pass the ball to his own goalkeeper to circumvent the Law while he is taking a free kick, the player is cautioned for unsporting behaviour and the free kick must be retaken.
Disappointed that this was allowed to happen twice which leads young players to believe that it is acceptable.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

As my colleagues state, there are a number of things wrong here. A free kick is just that a 'kick', and the laws state the ball is not in play until it is kicked and moves.

The ball must also leave the penalty area at a free kick (just like a goal kick) before it can be touched by another player.

Additionally, even if this was done in general play, some referees would consider it to be 'circumventing the laws of the game' and would issue a yellow card to the player involved and an indirect free kick to the opposition, although this comes down to a referee's interpretation of the laws and the spirit of the game (the laws are not clear on this one).

When a referee is making blatant errors in law like this, I like to suggest contacting the football authority to let them know so they can ensure the referee is properly educated and not repeating the mistake in later matches.