Question Number: 31684

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 8/6/2017

RE: Adult

Douglas Wix of Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom asks...

Why is it that a penalty kick is never ordered to be retaken by the referee when clearly the goalkeeper has moved well before the ball has been kicked. It happened again in community shield yesterday. Petr Cech was a yard off his line,yet no retake after pen was missed & never see a yellow card. 1

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Douglas,
PKs have evolved into trifling or doubtful events when it comes to punishing encroachment or movement off the goal line by the keeper. To where two to three yards inside the PA by the players is ignored and a 1 yard step out by the keepers is ignored as trifling or reasonable if doubtful on outcome. The referee could, by applying the LOTG, retake most any PK and be correct in law if thought anal by those on the FOP.
If the PK shooter has miskicked the ball away or wide there is even less reason for a referee to get bent over a step out by the keeper if it had no effect . The harsh one is when the KEEPER ACTUALY makes ball contact and saves the shot after leaving the goal line early.
I have no answer for you other than your match your decision your reputation
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Douglas,
I would agree with you that the law in regards to retaking penalties and cautioning goalkeepers when the keeper has offended, is one of the least frequently applied parts of the law. In fact, since the law was changed to make this a mandatory caution along with a retake, I cannot recall having seen a single example of it.

Having said that, there is still the question (as mentioned by referee Dawson) that a minor amount of movement can be both difficult to spot in real time and/or considered trifling. In the game you refer to, I would have said the amount of movement off the line before the kick was minimal and could be said to have had no effect, since both penalties were missed rather than saved and I would very much doubt that either penalty taker even noticed the movement by the keeper (they would be full concentrated on the ball, not looking at the keeper in the instant before kicking the ball).

It is true though, that even larger, more obvious amounts of movement off the line and which involve actual saves by the goalkeeper, still tend to go unpunished.

I think this is possibly a case where the attempt by the IFAB to make the law more strict may have back-fired. I have seen it suggested that referees may actually have become more reluctant to penalise this behaviour, precisely because it now means they would have to caution the keeper. For instance, if the referee in the Community Shield had decided to punish the Arsenal keeper for both penalty misses, he would have had to send him off (two yellow cards equalling a red). Sending a player off for what some would consider a ''trifling or doubtful'' offence might seem like an extreme step to take.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Over the years the implementation of this law has become very laxed and movement forward is seen many times as trifling or doubtful. The web is littered with multiple examples of encroachment and some that are extremely blatant. You may recall Jerzy Dudek of Liverpool in the CL final v AC Milan Kick from the Penalty Marks as a blatant one that was not given
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgx5titY8L8
The referee allowed the save and I suppose no referee wants to be the outlier by making tough decisions of this nature. Many probably feel that it is as much a poor penalty than a law breach that was the cause of the miss. In the higher levels the better PK takers almost wait for that movement without stopping and then go the opposite direction in the last second. When the goal is allowed there many referees cut more slack to goalkeepers that make a movement forward.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 31689