Question Number: 32512

Law 15 - The Throw In 6/16/2018

RE: Competitive Under 17

George of Parangarecutirimicuaro, CA Sacratomato asks...

We had a friendly debate among two senior referees today.

Tge play in question, an attacker,on a throw in, uses the defender. Throws ball into the back of an unaware defender, and tge player throwing in takes advantage of the ball bouncing.

One referee claims yellow for USB. The other ref is 100% OK letting play continue.

What is the more accurate call?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI George ,
PLAY ON!
Unless, in the opinion of the referee the ball was delivered with careless, reckless or unnecessary force or say into the face, head or groin. So in some ways there was a element of of truth that such an action COULD be deemed as unsporting and cautionable being shown a yellow card even deemed as VC, shown a red card and sent off. There is that potential but let me be clear as a tactical play it is LEGAL and no referee should use the excuse he finds it offensive as justification . HE MUST support his case via the LOTG!

Dean Saunders throws the ball in off the keeper lol

https://youtu.be/QZFgrW7LrQE

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi George
The Law advice has been updated here in recent years. This is what Law 15 in the LotG currently says
** If a player, while correctly taking a throw-in, intentionally throws the ball at an opponent in order to play the ball again but neither in a careless nor a reckless manner nor using excessive force, the referee allows play to continue.**
So in your example there is no offence and play on.
I recall when it was not spelt out explicitly in the Laws and many referees seen it as an offence and it did result in a caution and an IDFK for unsporting behaviour. That all changed in 2007 when the advice was updated to allow this with the new Law book format introduced.
The Dean Saunders goal video posted by Referee Dawson happened in 1998 and the referee allowed it on the day. At the time it was not spelt out explicitly in the Laws so another referee could have easily have disallowed it.
I myself as a young player fell foul of this in my early playing career with an IDFK awarded without the caution. It was a tactic we used in the school yard to get on with play quickly yet frowned on in the game as ungentlemanly conduct as it was then or to use a British phrase *It was not cricket* which refers to an action contrary to traditional standards of fairness. Older referees I suspect have this legacy position in their mind.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi George,
This is perfectly legal unless it contravenes the CRUEF (careless, reckless or using excessive force) criteria.

Incidentally, the same principle applies to free kicks, with almost identical wording to that quoted by ref McHugh used, except that the words 'free kick' and 'kicks' replace 'throw-in' and 'throws'.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

This is allowed. As long as it is not done in a reckless or violent manner. What is considered violent or reckless, is of course up to the referee. This is something that may get on the nerves of the defenders in the throwing so the referee must be aware of preventive measures to take if there is a retaliation of some sort. In general Though, this is a perfect legal strategic play