Question Number: 28024

Kicks From The Penalty mark 11/22/2013

RE: AYSO rec Under 10

Odd situation of san marcos, CA United States asks...

After 2 overtimes and still tied 2-2, the game went into penalty kicks. On the third kick, the kicker of the opposing team went to kick the ball and severely misjudged the ball and almost completely missed the ball. There was slight contact with the ball (since there was some movement, but could have been an inch). In one rulebook 14-1-4 states 'The ball is considered to have moved when it is touched by the kickers foot' which would indicate this should count as her kick (and should not be awarded a rekick). Another 14-1-4 reference states ' A ball could just be touched and move forward slightly, but if that happens, the kicker cannot touch or kick it a second time'. If the kicker did touch the ball with her foot, would this count as a kick or does the ball have to move off of the mark? I think it is clear that if the kicker completely missed the ball, it would be a rekick, but since her foot did make contact, should this count as her kick. (this really happened!); In our game a rekick was awarded (which went in), but after the two referees discussed, they disallowed the goal.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee needs to decide if the ball was put into play (in which case the kicks stands and there is no retake). On a penalty kick (or kicks from the mark), the ball is in play when (1) it is kicked (meaning a kicking motion with the foot) and (2) the ball moves forward. Any movement (e.g., one inch) is enough, but the ball must be forward.
Often when there is a total miss kick as the kicker slips, the ball moves sideways, not forward.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
On any restart once the ball is kicked and moves then it is in play. The same applies to a penalty kick with the one exception that the direction of the ball must be forward. In Kicks from the Penalty mark the ball cannot be touched again by the kicker no matter what happens so he/she must just wait the outcome of the kick.
Now in this situation the referee decided either rightly or wrongly that the ball was not kicked and moved. He then decided to allow the kick to be taken properly.
Now here is the problem for me on what subsequently happened. The referee when he then allowed the '2nd kick' to happen IMO confirmed his first decision that there was no kick and as play had restarted with the 2nd kick he could not go back to change his mind.
IMO the decision had to be either
1. Count no score as the ball was kicked on the 1st penalty
2. Allow the '2nd penalty' to stand once the kick was allowed to proceed.
It can't be a combination of both.
Also just be careful here on what Laws the game was played under. When you quote 14.1.4 that suggests a High School NFHS rule book which has some differences from FIFA Laws. If it was an AYSO game it was played under FIFA Laws only and Law 14 applies.