Question Number: 33729

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/23/2019

RE: Junior Premier Under 13

Ian Rogers of Wellington, New Zealand asks...

This question is a follow up to question 21553

Earlier this season our centre back miskicked a clearance from outside the box and it flew back to our GK, who caught it. Clearly an unintentional backpass. However the (home) ref gave an IDFK, on the basis that while it was a miskick and unintentional, by catching it our team now had the advantage. I've searched for the interpretation of this but can't find it - is this correct or can you advise? It seemed a very fine point of law for a 12 year-old game!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Ian,
the over officious, finding details that are not within the text or the spirit of the LOTG sigh.
An errant kick does not qualify as deliberate intentional kick by the foot of the team mate TO the keeper because there was no intent!

I hold the LOTG are sort of responsible for the creation of this myth because for the most part the LOTG removed the Intent of the action & instead decided to punish the deliberate act of fouls if they were performed in a careless, reckless or excessive fashion

Newer referees are taught deliberate actions have consequences as they relate to misconduct and fouls. So in essence what the player actually did, not necessarily what he tried to do, but this does not apply to all infringements of a technical nature.

In such things as this illegal handling violation by the keeper newer referees are confused by the literal wording of a (Deliberate Kick) of the ball by the defender, which for example, could RESET an offside player to unrestricted status. But NOT in this case where a deliberate kick of the ball by the team mate that is NOT intended to be directed at the keeper BUT the ball winds up in the keeper's hands, is in fact NOT an infringement by the keeper.

These are a miss kick where although the defender will deliberately play that ball with the foot it goes badly due to high wind swerve or being off balance, a deflection or rebound, and yes even a challenge that strips the ball off an opponent like a sliding tackle . In ALL these cases the ball can come off the FOOT of a teammate and wind up directly in their keepers' hands with NO penalty attached!

What CAN be a violation is if the defender deliberately STOPS the ball using only their feet and then INTENTIONALLY shields it to allow the keeper to come and get it. This violates the spirit of the LOTG where a player is restricted from deliberately kicking it with the foot to get the ball to their keeper. Yet in the same line of thinking of NON intent a keeper can throw themselves on that ball in the midst of a scrum to save it and not be guilty of illegal handing. Its a matter of intent and timing! A referee should not look to award scoring opportunities out of nothing! Both my colleagues, Ref McHugh with the examples of videos and Ref Wright espousing the the reeducation of the officials and my own conclusions all point out how wrong it is in youth to punish kids for misunderstanding and gotcha football.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ian
This has been asked a few times of late most recently Question #33720
The answer to your question is that the call was incorrect. It was not a deliberate kick TO the goalkeeper
Unfortunately the game has a problem with this with some referees deciding that as the kick is deliberate,( most if not all are anyway) that it is an offence when the GK touches the ball with the hands. Not so. Sigh
In this video there are two IDFks awarded both of which were incorrect
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7esEwniKXqQ
Throw in the fact that in your case it was Under 12 game and it is just plain WRONG

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Ian,
The reasoning the referee provided is simply not a relevant consideration. After all, why would it matter who has the advantage if no offence has been committed?

There are 2 questions the referee needs to ask here:
1) Was the ball deliberately kicked? Yes
2) Was the goalkeeper the intended recipient? No

Without both being a 'yes', there's no offence. Nothing else matters.

I don't know what the protocol is for contacting the referee's association in your area, but given this is such a clear misunderstanding of the law, if you wished to contact the referee's association to simply advise of this incident and what the referee said, it may offer them the opportunity to educate this (presumably) inexperienced referee. If nothing else you might be doing the other teams in the area a favour!