Question Number: 31055

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 11/27/2016

RE: Competitive

Jim Pakenham of Dublin, Dublin Ireland asks...

Hi, if the referee awards a penalty and it is the last kick of the game-time is up but the kick must be taken-am I correct in saying that the ref must inform the taker and the goalkeeper that it is the last kick and that the ball must cross the line directly. If the keeper touches the ball and it crosses the line the goal does not stand, if it hits the post and goes in it does. The kicker must be the last player to touch the ball, thank you, Jim

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jim,
You are misinformed, the ball does not have to directly enter the goal! The point here is all time has expired, you are not going to allow any rebound to be played by anyone of the 20 players watching or the kicker himself, 0nce he imparts the momentum to the BALL on his shot! ONLY the keeper is permitted to try and STOP that momentum! The shot can have the ball rebound off the keeper, the goal posts or the crossbar in ANY order and as many times as the ball has power to do so until the keeper captures the ball stopping it completely or the ball goes out of play off the field or into the field of play at dead stop or the ball completely crosses the goal line under the crossbar and between the posts for a good goal.

If you must EXTEND time for a PK then, while not mandatory it is probably a good idea to inform the two teams so only the kicker and the keeper are involved. If they are unaware, the two teams could line up as regular PK and since they are expecting time to continue you could have them intruding into the PA area unnecessarily forcing possible retakes or causing issues.
Cheers
ps here are a few of strange but VALID pk goals

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+pk+weird+goals&view=detail&mid=B8169B4D5DBF32C96C50B8169B4D5DBF32C96C50&FORM=VIRE

Note the first one off post and then keeper's butt there are others that are not extended PKS but they all show how the BALL is in play after the miss. The fact the keeper made contact or not the ball remained alive as it was STILL moving on its own power .

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+pk+weird+goals&&view=detail&mid=C85A437D2053265FB703C85A437D2053265FB703&rvsmid=FF990DDD949474BFA7B1FF990DDD949474BFA7B1&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jim
While it is the last kick of the game a goal will still be allowed if it hits any combination of goalkeeper and frame of the goal from the kick. No follow up play is allowed by any player with the exception of the goalkeeper. So lets say a save from the original kick requires a second save from the GK that would be allowed.
Anyway it does not happen very often as the referee can find a few seconds for time lost between the penalty award and the kick being taken to see the play out to a conclusion. With a 90% completion rate for PK it is a rare event.
On the subject of penalty kicks another myth is forward momentum of the ball. So if the ball hits the post rebounds off the goalkeeper before crossing the goal line the goal is good. Same applies in Kicks from the Penalty Mark.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jim,
It is not true that the kicker must be the last player to touch the ball. In this one respect, the same provisions apply in this situation as in any other penalty, namely that the ball can touch any combination of goal frame and goalkeeper before crossing the line.

It is also not true that the referee must inform the players involved of anything - the Laws of the Game make no mention of this. Now, as Ref Dawson says, it might be a good idea to inform all the players what is going on but it is not mandatory.

However I would also agree with ref McHugh that it is rare for referees to handle the situation this way (in fact, I can honestly say that I've never seen it done exactly in that manner) and it is more common to allow a little more added time, either for a kick off if the penalty is scored or for the ball to be cleared if it is not.

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