Question Number: 31360

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/17/2017

RE: Rec High School

Salvador Flores of Indianapolis, IN USA asks...

I also had another question. If the ball is half outside of the penalty line and half on the penalty line and the keeper grabs it with his or her hands, is it a handball or not?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Salvador,
Perfectly legal as the location of the ball is considered to be INSIDE the PA thus the keeper can use the hands even on the part of the ball outside. Seems a bit funky but the LOTG require a definite yes or no to a restart location so when dealing with a 12 inch across ball and 5 inch boundary lines it was decided to eliminate the doubt about where the ball was in or out of the area if he ball is in contact or above the plane with a boundary line that ball is IN . By the same LOTG the keeper is permitted to use their hands on a ball that is considered to be inside their PA
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Salvador,
As far as I can tell, NFHS rules hew to the same principle as the Laws of the Game - namely that the whole of the ball must cross the whole of the line to be outside the area that the line encloses.

That being the case, the keeper in this situation would be allowed to handle the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Salvador
NFHS has the same interpretation as the LotG.
The Rules state that The ball is out of play when it has completely crossed a goal line or touchline,whether on the ground or in the air which is the same as the LotG. From that we can interpret that all of the ball must cross all of any line to be outside that area.
In your example the decision is play on. The real challenge for the referee is to determine the location of the ball at that split second.

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Salvador, as indicated in NFHS Rule 1-2-2, Boundary lines are part of the field of play; and Rule 1-2-3, the penalty area lines are part of the penalty area. Rule 9-1-1 states that the ball is out of play when it has completely crossed a goal line or touch line whether on the ground or in the air. This is true of all other lines. If any part of the ball is touching the line or in the air over that line, it is considered to be in the boundaries enclosed by that line. Thus, the answer to your question is that the ball is still in the penalty area and there would be no handling violation on the part of the goalkeeper. I do hope that your season is going well.