Question Number: 34096

Law 17 - The Corner Kick 1/4/2021

RE: Rec Adult

Russell of Sydeny, Australia asks...

I have never seen this before.

In the recent Chelsea v Man City EPL match, Timo Werner took a corner kick in the dying minutes of the match.
He seemed to clip his own foot against the corner flag - I think after he kicked the ball in to play (a short pass for a team mate only a few meters away).
Werner went down injured, and Ref Taylor appropriately stopped play.

Would have thought the restart would be a drop ball to Chelsea, however, the restart was a retake of the corner kick.

Very odd.

There was no replay of the incident shown to be able to confirm if he kicked the corner post before or after the ball was put into play. (Initially, I thought after, but logic suggest it was before - and one doesn't 'look' for these sort of things).

If after kicking into play, surely a drop ball.

If before kicking the ball into play - would that allow the retake?

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Russell,
Although relatively rare, I have actually seen this before. In fact, the last time I remember it was in a game involving the team I support (Middlesbrough FC). In that instance, the referee just allowed play to continue, which I actually think would be the correct course of action, unless of course the player was seriously injured.

I haven't seen the incident you refer to but I am a little surprised that the referee did stop play as I wouldn't have expected a player to be badly injured just by sightly catching the corner flag while still being able to play the ball. In the game I mentioned, the Middlesbrough player was not injured at all, just embarassed - an embarrassment he then compounded by catching up to the ball and playing it again, leading of course to an indirect free kick to the opponents.

However if Werner did sustain a serious injury, then stopping play would be correct and if play is stopped for an injury, then as you suggest, a dropped ball would be indicated.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
The ball in my opinion was put into play correctly by Werner in which case as play was stopped for an injury the restart should have been a dropped ball to Chelsea where pay was stopped.
I suspect the referee decided that the easiest way to tidy it up was to go with a retake. Not correct in Law yet probably of little concern to City although if it was 0-0 and Chelsea scored from the retake it would no doubt have caused a problem for the game!