Question Number: 32322

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/19/2018

RE: Retired Adult

Mike of Lakewood, Wa USA asks...

When a goal keeper after saving a shot and is drop kicking the ball actually doesn't make contact with the ball until he is a couple of feet outside the 18 yard box and in the penalty circle. What is the correct referees call?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mike.
when a keeper has ball possession inside his PA and wants to redistribute the ball up field he moves forward to the top of the PA & often tosses the ball out in front and drop kicks it down field. At the point of the kick he may be well outside the PA even by the penalty arc. This is perfectly fine.

The ONLY issue is the timing of his release of the ball as it is carried outstretched ahead of him and it can appear he has completely carried the ball outside the PA before it leaves his hands. Yet on slow motion you can see the hands away from the ball slightly as they appear to still surround the ball.

There will be times when the arm extension may well carry the ball outside the PA before it is released . Technically if this does occur once the ball is completely outside the PA and in contact with the hands the foul of handles the ball deliberately, a DFK offence occurs just immediately outside the PA boundary line.

There is no need to caution nor is this a goal denial just an overeager keeper not realizing how close he was to the boundary line on release. For some it is a trifling offence and possibly a warning to be careful. If it is utterly blatant or a keeper who ignores your early warning not caring about your concerns though a DFK is indeed the correct restart. It is a gift of a scoring opportunity to the opposition and as a referee like to be very sure it is required before awarding it!
Remember the restart is a smidge outside the PA boundary line it is not where he kicks the ball that could be 4 yards away. The foul occurs the moment the ball is completely over the line of the PA wherever he leaves the PA thus it is set 18 yards and 1 ball width away from the goal line.
The reason the location is important most free kick opportunities need a bit more room to lift a ball over a wall when shooting at goal from close range. This is what I like to call a blade of grass restart!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
No offence if the all that happens is that the ball is kicked outside the area. All of the ball has to be over all of the line for the ball to be outside the penalty area. A goalkeeper may not use his hand/s outside the penalty area and if he does so it is a direct free kick.
Now on a punt the challenge for the match officials is to determine if in fact the ball was handled outside the penalty area. Many punts result in the ball being released inside the area from the hand and the kick is all that happens outside the penalty area. That is not an offence.
I like to show this video on this question
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uWDMOFxEQuk
Can it be determined from the video that the ball has been touched by the hand over the line at any time in the sequences. The kick at the end certainly happens over the line yet that is not an offence. At speed that momentum of the GK can actually end up at two paces with the ball released inside the area.
My advice to referees to see this as doubtful unless it is so blatant that it must be called. I recall in a Premier League game an overzealous AR flagged this offence, I believe against a Liverpool goalkeeper. Video replay showed that the goalkeeper had in fact released the ball before he got to the line and his throwing up action brought him a few paces outside for the kick. It was not an offence. In real time it might have looked an offence and the opponents did score from the advantageous free kick which would have result in a serious loss of marks in his assessment. I doubt that the AR would have called many more of those in his PL career!
Now in all my years refereeing I have only called this once in an Underage game where the GK brought the ball outside the penalty area by three / four yards before he kicked the ball. It could not be ignored as he seemed to get disorientated about his location and there was no complaint from anyone. I have had plenty of doubtful ones over the years and I just have a quiet word with the GK to mind the line on the kicks. I also note that players would appeal more for this in the past. I cannot remember the last such appeal in recent times and perhaps when it is rarely if ever given players just ignore it the same as referees.