Question Number: 30769

Law 11 - Offside 9/16/2016

RE: Under 14

Filippo of Palermo, Italy asks...

A player passes the ball back to his goalkeeper, but he fails to stop it and it is now going into the player's own goal. A teammate of his, who was in an offside position in the opponents' half at the moment the ball was passed, runs as fast as he can towards his own penalty area and kicks the ball away, thus preventing a ludicrous own goal.

The referee stops play and awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team. Should the offending player be sent off for DOGSO?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Wow, this is an even better scenario than when playing the ball in a typhoon and a player scores an own goal on a corner kick. In other words, it's just not going to happen.

But it's not DOGSO, because he didn't deny a goal to an opponent moving toward the goal.

But if he handles the ball ...

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Filippo
It is not going to happen.
Anyway the technical answer is that it is offside and the IDFK is taken from where the PIOP kicked the ball or the provision relating to IDFKs inside the goal area. As the player did not deny a goal to an opponent moving towards the opponents’ goal there is no misconduct. It is an IDFK only.
Now if he used a hand to stop the ball it is completely different story. It is then a penalty and a DOGSO red card for denying a goal by deliberately handling the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Filippo,

For this to happen, the Laws of physics would have to be strained beyond the breaking point. If a ball were kicked hard enough that it would have enough momentum to enter the net, there is no way that a player who was in the opposite half of the field would be quick enough to catch up to the ball. Contrariwise, if the player were able to catch up to the ball, that would indicate that the ball was not in fact, moving fast enough to ever be able to reach the net so no potential own goal would be in the offing.

So luckily, neither you, I nor anyone else will ever need to make the decision that you speculate about.

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