Question Number: 30391

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/8/2016

RE: middle school intramurals girls Under 14

mary Ramirez-de-Arellano of damascus, MD United States asks...

Should a player on the ground who kicks the ball from the ground be whistled? I constantly hear' She can't play the ball while on the ground.' What are the rules governing this? I am confused. What is the call exactly?
Thanks very much and thank you again for this wonderful forum!!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mary
This question gets asked regularly. It is a myth that has developed in the game and it is not an offence to play the ball from the ground provided it is done in a way that is NOT a danger to the player or an opponent. If there is a danger the referee will stop play and award an IDFK to the opponents for the offence of playing in a dangerous manner.
Now the assessment of danger to the player is up to the referee. Clearly a player on the ground cannot move freely or avoid / get out of the way of contact as easily as a standing player. A player while playing the ball on the ground risks the possibility of getting kicked accidentally in such a circumstance. That then is a judgement call for the referee to make based on the circumstances such as proximity of players, direction of play, likelihood of an immediate challenge etc. If there is no danger with the ball kicked away then no offence is likely. For example a sliding tackle is playing the ball on the ground. That never gets questioned except the manner of the challenge yet never the playing of the ball. A player laying on the ball while not playing it yet trying to shield it runs a high risk of getting a kick or stood on. The action may also prevent an opponent from playing the ball for fear of kicking the player on the ground. That is also PIADM
Now at youth and underage levels the referee will take less of a risk in such a circumstance and so it is a more likely call at younger level

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Mary,
Thank you for your question. Glad to hear you're enjoying the site and that you're learning from it.
Kicking the ball from the grond is not, and has never been, a free kick.
Look at it this way - isn't a slide tackle playing the ball from the ground?
If we penalised players for doing this then we would be punishing them for falling over!
There are a few things to consider though.
If a player on the ground is lying on the ball or trapping it between/beneath their legs or otherwise making it impossible for an opponent to safely challenge the ball, then this is an IFK for Playing in a Dangerous Manner (PIADM). Bear in mind that sometimes a player will just fall onto the ball or it will be trapped between their legs for a few moments while they get their bearings. Allow them a few moments to move off the ball before you start thinking about blowing the whistle.
Sometimes though, it's impossible for the player to move because there is a crowd around them kicking at the ball. If an opponent trying to play the ball means the player on the ground is unable to move away, this this is PIADM against that opponent.
Similarly, the opponent repeatedly kicking the ball into the player on the ground trying to clear it would be a direct free kick for kicking an opponent (and of course, if they actually kick the opponent that's clearly a free kick).
When the player on the ground tries to kick the ball, still judge it like any other challenge - if their studs are raised in the direction of an opponent, for instance, then this is likely to be an indirect for PIADM.
Sometimes the player is on the ground, there is a crowd around and while nobody has committed a foul you know that the ball isn't going to clear away and there's a good chance that somebody will get hurt. In these cases there's nothing wrong with stopping play to prevent a bad situation and restarting with a drop ball - especially when you're looking at youth soccer.

So in short, there's no particular law that prevents them kicking it from the ground, just judge whether the kick is dangerous to an opponent, they're preventing the ball being played or whether the opponent is putting the player on the ground at risk.