Question Number: 27673

Law 13 - Free Kicks 8/19/2013

RE: High School Under 18

Dan of West Milford, NJ usa asks...

I was at a high school game where now I'm told the rule for an IFK is that the ball can't be tapped anymore for it to be put into play. That the ball has to be kicked for it to be put into play (like FIFA or USSF rules). In our game, the other team got an IFK outside the penalty area. Their player ran up and tapped the ball. Their teammate then ran up and kicked the ball up into the air into the penalty area. Another teammate headed the ball into the goal. The ref said no goal since he says the tapping of the ball was the incorrect re-start and had them take the IFK again. Is this correct? I think it was the wrong call as to me the tapping of the ball was meaningless since it never re-started the play, and that when the 2nd kid kicked the ball, it then was put into play and the 2nd touch of the ball by the teammate the scored should be good. Can you advise if the ref was correct or not?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dan
The only question I would have is whether the ball was motionless after the tap. If the tap was just that and the ball was not moved / moving then the 2nd kick put the ball in play and as it was then played by another player the goal was good.
Perhaps the referee was 'surprised' by the tap and was focussed on the incorrect element of a restart rather than the actual restart as on the face of it there was no benefit to this tap when there was no direct shot at goal.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

By a recent change to the high school (NFHS) rule, the ball is in play when it is kicked (formerly 'touched') and moves. The language now conforms NFHS rules to the laws of the game. The reason for the rule change was to make clear that a tap of the top of the ball is not a kick and does not put the ball in play.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The referee had the general concept down, but was missing the details.

The tap did not put the ball into play, because it was not kicked and it didn't move. But the next kick high into the penalty area did put the ball in play. The header after that scored a goal - a good goal, because it didn't go directly into the net; there was a header first.

If the ball was not headed and went in on the fly, then the goal would not count. But the restart would be a goal kick, as the ball crossed the goal line last touched by the attacking side, and no goal was scored.

There's no mechanism for the referee to retake the original indirect free kick, unless for some reason he was 'not ready' to have the kick taken.