Question Number: 28616

Mechanics 7/22/2014

RE: Grade 8 USSF Under 19

Darren of Missoula , MT USA asks...

Law 13 Free Kicks- All oponents mus be 10 yards away from the ball.

Why do referees need to walk this off? I cannot find anywhere that states that a referee must do this. When did this start? Many of us have been referees for many years and know what 10 yards looks like as do many players, probably 15 and older. Why not just verbally move the defenders? Our job is to make our best judgement of play and apply the laws. Why not in distance from free kicks? Thanks all! I learn alot from the discussions here!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Where, When, Who said What and Why, did you arrive at this erroneous conclusion that a referee MUST walk off the ten yards? He certainly can choose to do so, not really sure he should or even if it is wise to do so. Match or man management does at times call for adaptation to settle feathers, ruffled or agitated by misconception or preconception of how a match is or should be conducted. You might have noticed the use of the disappearing spray to mark ball location and set wall location at the recent World Cup? Perhaps it looked as if they were stepping off the ten yards because they no longer just point to the spot of the infraction they MARK the point and of course they know ten yards in walking or striding away to set the wall?
I am ashamed, no not really, more like disappointed in how the World Cup referees seemed to allow delaying restarts and failure to respect distances as part of the match conditions. It is true even at the non professional matches that players may on occasion back up to a maximum of 8 yards but continually dawdle or cut across the restart distance in efforts to delay or create dissent. Wandering in front of the ball, pretending to argue the ball placement or simply pretending they are on their way towards the wall! The point is in law, the defenders have NO rights in setting a wall. The ceremonial aspects of them BEING permitted to have time to set a wall is ONLY for the benefit of the opposing team. If one reads the laws of the game, the distance is AT LEAST ten yards, so if forced by necessity by the continual defending bellyache of dissent and delay to step off ten yards, my strides are going to ensure we have that ten if not 11 or 12 or lol

The start and Restart of Play. The Kick -off
the opponents of the team taking the kick-off are at least 9.15 m (10 yds.) from the ball until it is in play (easy the centre circle sets this distance automatically)

Free kick outside the penalty area
• all opponents must be at least 9.15 m (10 yds.) from the ball until it is in play

Indirect free kick to the attacking team:
• all opponents must be at least 9.15 m (10 yds.) from the ball until it is in play, unless they are on their own goal line between the goalposts
(Only exception between the 1o and to a minimum of 6 yards away at the edge of the goal area to the goal line)


Throw In Law 15 (maybe we should pace this to?) lol no not really
All opponents must stand no less than 2 m (2 yds.) from the point at which the throw-in is taken

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Darren
What you refer to is the ceremonial restart and it has been around for a very long time. The Laws do not set out how this should be managed just that once the referee intervenes to enforce the 10 yards the restart must be on the whistle.
Now over the years a process has been established that manages in a controlled way the free kick restart mainly in goal scoring situations. The various elements bring certainty to the free kick from both sides. The ball is placed at the point of the foul and then the kicking time is told not to kick until the whistle is sounded. The pacing of 10 yards gives a degree of certainty to both teams that 10 yards has in fact been put in place. While many referees have a good judgement of 10 yards by sight only it helps to "sell" the decision when it has been paced. I have tried the by sight only approach and many times I get questioned about my judgement which is unhelpful. I never get questioned when I use the pacing method.
I might give an anecdotal story here. In a game last season at a free kick I moved the wall back by sight. The defending team was behind late in the game and my first thought is that it will help speed up the restart if I don't have to come across to pace the 10 yards.. One player in the wall questioned my judgement in moving the wall back. Now my first reaction was to ignore his protest and as he was persisting perhaps to caution him for dissent. I then decided to take my time to walk back to the ball to pace out 10 yards which I did. I as pretty confident that the wall was back 10 yards so my steps were to prove the correctness of my judgement. Anyway 10 steps and I'm at the wall. Instructions about not moving and a further reminder about on the whistle. I then walked to my restart position and whistled the restart. Yes I could have ignored the"'protest" and that was my choice to do so. Had I paced back the wall in the first place I know the moaning would not have arisen. As it turned out my friend wasted 30/40 seconds of time.
However the less debate that referee can occasion in a game the better for all concerned.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The referee does NOT have to march off the 10 yards. It's just become a tradition in some areas. For some people, 9 or 11 steps are closer to 10 yards than 10 steps would be, but if the ref doesn't take 10 steps, he's sure to hear complaints. Eyeballing the distance, based on cues from field markings, can be just as exact. However, one should practice this first. Many refs significantly underestimate 10 yards.

(Incidentally, someone who was in the Marching Band could probably step off 16 steps and be within an inch or 2 of 10 yards, as they practice '8 to 5' until they get the steps down exactly.)