Question Number: 30629

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/23/2016

RE: rec and select Under 13

PJ of Florence, KY usa asks...

I am a referee and a player...isnt the goalie allowed to knock a olayer out of the way to get the ball on a corner kick when the player is blocking the goalie from getting the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi PJ,
referee and a player? Hmm I can forgive the player part but the ref portion of your life, you should know that bowling over people is not part of the game. A nudge with the shoulder is a bit different that removing a blocking opponent by knocking him or her out of you way.

Positioning on corners or in free play, the keeper is NOT permitted to knock opponents out of the way. It is ALWAYS possible the opponent can be held accountable for impeding a keeper by illegally moving into the path of the keeper or be guilty of contact escalating the INDFK offence to a dfk holding offence. Then again the keeper can not run over an opponent JUST because he is between him and the ball.

I recall a high-level coach instructing his players to tactically block a keeper by surrounding him with attackers claiming their right to their piece of ground before a corner was within the LOTG. The constant infighting within the PA on set plays like corners is a pain in the you know where. I offered the keeper an easy out by awarding an impeding foul on the attackers as they were OBVIOUSLY playing the keeper, not the ball.

Personally I award fouls inside the PA a lot more than most when the obvious pushing or holding occurs. This constant wagging the finger by officials on the TV to stop this behavior is in my opinion redundant. It has been made to appear as man management procedure by professional referees who are trying not to reduce teams to 7 players each given the abundant opportunities to do so.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi PJ
One of the fundamental tenets of the Law is that a player is entitled to his position on the field of play. So a player may not be charged, pushed, bowled over by an opponent. When the ball is within playing distance of a player he may be legally charged.
Now a player may stand say close to the goalkeeper at a corner kick yet he may not do anything more such as impede, hold back the GK from moving to the ball. To do so is a foul by the attacker.
Now the opposite of that is the situation where the player is simply standing there and the goalkeeper knocks him out of the way. That is also illegal. There is no reason why a player cannot go around an opponent who is just stood there.
Now we know that it is rarely as simple as that with players constantly moving. Referees tend to pay particular attention to players positioned beside the goalkeeper for the reason of seeing if there is impeding or restricting the GKs movement. Now there can be some minor contact as player move yet it should not be excessive resulting in players getting knocked down.

At Underage the referee should allow less physical contact in such situations. Certainly players should not be getting knocked to the ground because he happens to be stood in a certain location. A GK can make an initial move in two of the three directions without having to make heavy contact with an opponent. That is sufficient IMO to get *away* from an opponent so as to get to any ball. Also there can be times in a crowd of players that a GK comes punch the ball away. There can be contact among the players in that crowd which generally would not be fouls.