Question Number: 32424

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/5/2018

RE: Under 11

Mike Manning. of Stockholm, Sweden asks...

Rule 12 back pass rule says that a goalkeeper cannot pick up a ball from a kicked back pass or a throw.
However from a goal kick is it permitted to pass to a player outside the box who then takes the ball into his own box and stops the ball dead for the keeper to take up from the ground.The ball has not been 'kicked to the goalkeeper ' but 'left for him to take!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mike,
NO that would not be permitted in effect the ball has been deliberately kicked with the foot of a team mate at some point prior to him picking it up!

This would be viewed the same if say all a defender did was to sole stop an intercepted the ball from an opponent, then leaves that dead ball for the keeper to come and get it? The keeper does so dribbles it and then under pressure when he bends down to pick it up he will be guilty of an INDFK violation for illegal use of hands. The distance or act of trying to circumvent the restriction is not easily set aside.

ONLY if say the ball was shot at the goal and the defender & keeper were to arrive simultaneously at the ball location with say attackers challenging. The keeper dives in to take it off the foot of his defender would most likely be looked as a save not an illegal handling UNLESS of course the defender had used his foot to control the ball and was shielding it. In other words the situation should be clearly defined as a team mates' deliberate use of foot to GET the ball to the keeper versus a confusing scramble where its apparent the keeper was always trying to gain possession out of his duties as a keeper.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Mike,
As described, this would be an offence for me and I think, for most referees. As stated in the Laws document:

''The Laws cannot deal with every possible situation, so where there is no direct provision in the Laws, The IFAB expects the referee to make a decision within the 'spirit' of the game - this often involves asking the question, ''what would football want/expect?''

In this situation the player has deliberately positioned the ball with the foot, in order that the goalkeeper can pick it up. As far as I'm concerned this is a clear violation of the intent of the law and should be penalised as such.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
For us that have played the game for a long time this used to be a tactic employed by some teams with poor kickers. It was a tactic to convert a goal kick into a punt. Indeed I recall other situations where the goalkeeper rushed out to the side of the penalty area, the ball was kicked to him by a team mate and the GK played it back inside the area and immediately picked the ball up which was legal at that time.
When the misnomer *passback* law was introduced in 1992 all that was done away with. The law makes no difference as to direction of the kick or strength of kick just that the foot is used. So a foot stop is a kick, a dribble is a series of mini kicks and using the foot to play the ball to a location where the goalkeeper can pick the fall up is a kick TO the goalkeeper.
So what you describe is an offence punished by an indirect free kick from where the goalkeeper picks the ball up with his hands. The reason it is an offence is that the ball was in play once it left the penalty area, the team mate used his foot to kick the ball and the last kick was to a place that the goalkeeper could pick the ball up.
In recent times we have been asked about *passback* situations that were not punished. The most recent one was a throw in to a goalkeeper outside the penalty area and he dribbled the ball back inside so as to pick the ball up for a punt. That was not called because the referee either did not know the law fully or maybe that he chose to ignore it as trifling. It should have been called as the TI was to the goalkeeper.
Finally the reason one does not see this goal kick situation is that the in the higher levels of the game a punt is not viewed as a good tactic any longer and more importantly the ball cannot be picked up. Indeed we see goalkeepers try to ground kick or throw the ball to create the correct ball trajectory or some punts are side low kicks again to keep the ball low to assist his forwards get to the ball first with less chance of challenge from the rear on a higher ball. The modern game is about possession, getting on the ball and retaining that possession. If the defender can be found with a goal kick then play should be encouraged from that point on with perhaps the goalkeeper getting involved again in the passing. Lumping the ball forward from a punt is many times just gaining ground. It will work at Underage as a tactic yet it does not develop playing skills or tactics that will be needed in the future. Many countries have encouraged the build out line for goal kicks to encourage this type of play.