Question Number: 29483

Law 17 - Corner Kick 6/15/2015

RE: Rec Adult

russell of Sydney, Australia asks...

I have created my own 'you call it' !

In a local park footy match, a corner has been awarded and attacked A leaves the pitch to retrieve the ball and rolls it to teammate attacker B standing at the corner post.
Just prior to attacher A stepping back onto the field, the corner is taken by B and played short to A who now steps into the field.

Attacker A plays the ball, the defending players are calling foul, A plays ball back to B, B crosses ball that then hits defender and goes over the goal line again.

What is the call?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
For me there is no offence here and it is play on. The return of the player can be seen as part of players movement which we know is legal.
Yes the referee can be fussy and ask for a retake if he decides that there are two players off the field of play at a corner kick with perhaps some unfair element to it.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Russell,
Given there is no offside when Player B takes the corner and Player A was off to retrieve the ball prior to the corner kick I see no reason to suspect an unfair advantage conspiracy was underway. As my colleagues suggests one might decide the player needs to return to the FOP first but would have to see something that convinces me the re-entry gained an unfair advantage.
If I see no unfair advantage, at the taking of the corner, when player A plays the ball back to player B as long a B is onside then this cross of the ball hits the defender and goes over the goal line (not into goal) we have another corner kick.

Often on corner kicks referee are whistling in restarts due to the mess in front of goal as players are constantly shoving, pushing grabbing prior to the restart and need to be sorted out

A player off the FOP through natural play to retrieve the ball I would be hard pressed to think this was a tactical ploy to gain an unfair advantage by re-entering the field of play in a deceitful manner thus cautionable USB..
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Most likely no foul for me either. If I believe that the players were using some sort of trickery or unsporting behavior by doing this..I would put a stop to it. But I agree that this appears to all be during the normal course of play.

Answer provided by Referee James Sowa

Russell,

The way I read this, Player A is gaining an advantage by being off the field. If this was a deliberate trick to fool the other team, then I would likely request the corner to be retaken and have a word with Player A. In this scenario, prevention can go a long way. If you see the player lingering off the field of play, a simple tweet of the whistle can slow things down and allow everyone to be properly set up to make it fair for both teams.