Question Number: 27297

Law 15 - Throw In 4/7/2013

Edward of Elmsford, NY Us asks...

At a throw in, the player taking the throw continuously does not throw the ball into play. can this action be considered time wasting?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Edward
Yes that can be deemed to be time wasting. The referee can and should caution the player for delaying the restart of play when the player deliberately wastes time by not getting on with play.
Many times an 'instruction' to 'speed up' can suffice. Some referees adopt zero tolerance with players that delay on a throw in. In those instance taking the TI from the 'incorrect' location gets turned over immediately.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Certainly it could be considered time-wasting. After a couple of repetitions, a caution could be issued. And of course the referee will be adding on time - liberally - to compensate for the time lost.

A few years back, IFAB gave us another method of dealing with this. It used to be that any throw that didn't enter the field was automatically a redo. But then they added the words, 'provided that it was taken in line with the correct procedure.' Now a bad throw can be declared even if he ball didn't enter the field, and you can get the ball into the other team's hands who presumably will be able to put the ball into play. As Ref McHugh suggests, perhaps the redo wasn't taken from the proper spot, so it was no good.