Question Number: 33804

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 12/16/2019

RE: Competive Under 16

Stan of Romeoville, Il Usa asks...

This question is a follow up to question 33624

On the deliberate pass back to the keeper rule, would it be a violation if a defensive player passes back to his own player standing next to the keeper and the players traps the ball with his foot and leaves it for his keeper to pick the ball up? I know its not a pass but is it still going against the rule?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Stan
The law only mentions kick and TO the goalkeeper. It is not a pass.
The Laws of the Game glossary tells us that the ball is kicked when a player makes contact with the foot and/or the ankle so it can be a few inches or yards. Also direction of the kick is not defined so it is just TO the goalkeeper which can be forward, sideways. Usually it is backwards so that is how the misnomer of back pass developed.
So to answer your question control with the foot is a kick so that places a restriction on handling by the goalkeeper when done with the intention of making the ball available TO the goalkeeper only. Direction and distance does not matter and it will be an offence when the goalkeeper touches the ball with his hands as in your example.
So your gut feeling was correct and it is clearly an offence with no debate about it.
In the case of a scramble and there is uncertainty as the defenders foot action then there is no offence or at best trifling and doubtful.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Stan,
First a couple of things about wording and definitions. This is not just being finicky because in this case it goes to the heart of the matter and getting the terminology wrong can lead to an incorrect view of the issues.

The main problem with talking about a 'back pass rule' is that it mischaracterizes what the law really says (and means). The law says a keeper is not allowed to touch the ball with the hands if:

''it has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate.''

So the ball does not have to go back (it can go forwards or sideways) and it does not have to be a pass, which implies the ball traveling from one place to another but merely a kick, which the law defines as follows:

''The ball is kicked when a player makes contact with the foot and/or the ankle''

Quite clearly, if a player traps the ball with the foot, they have made contact with the foot and therefore, according to the law they have kicked the ball.

So it doesn't matter that it's not a pass because it's a kick, which is all the law requires to meet that particular part of the law.

However the main thing the referee has to decide when judging if an offence has occurred in your scenario, is whether the ball was deliberately kicked to the keeper or not. To borrow a phrase originally used by the IFAB for a slightly different purpose (circumventing the law) but that I think equally applies here, the referee must ''be convinced that this was the player's motive'' for kicking the ball, before giving the offence.

To sum up, if the referee is quite sure that the player intended the ball to go to the keeper, then they should give the indirect free kick when the keeper touches it with the hands but if the referee is not convinced (i.e. not sure the player, when they trapped the ball, intended that the keeper should pick it up) then they should not give the offence. For instance, if the referee judges that the player trapped the ball intending to clear it and then the keeper dived on the ball without the player meaning for that to happen, the law has not been broken.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Stan,
short answer is YES it is a possible infraction INDFK !

while we do not look for ways to trick the keeper into giving up what essentially amounts to a free kick at goal out of nothing, one must consider the rational of why this addendum for illegal handling was considered for inclusion into the LOTG . In cases-where the keeper dives in on a ball in front of goal being contested by opposing players we recognize the keeper 's job is to prevent goals from being scored. His jumping on top of a ball at his defenders feet, if it was a bang, bang play, we likely DO NOT see it as an infraction. HOWEVER, given this law DOES exist whereby the defender is not supposed to deliberately use their feet to kick a ball to their keeper . If he was to delay, shield and indicate for the keeper to come and get it this would no different than kicking the ball to the keeper.
Cheers