Question Number: 34330

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 9/9/2021

RE: Adult

Crebs Crem of Zagreb, Croatia asks...

Hello,

In the following scenario, what should be the correct decision given by the referee?

Team A has won a penalty kick. Just before player A10 takes the penalty kick, player A2 commits a misconduct against his/her opponent in midfield. The AR sees the misconduct but before he/she warns the CR, player A10 takes the penalty kick, the ball is saved and sent out for a corner kick by the keeper. Then, the AR warns CR that A2 has committed a misconduct against his/her opponent just before the ball is in play.

As far as I know, if a misconduct happens before the ball is in play, the play restarts according to the previous decision. However, in such a case the previous restart is a penalty kick in favour of team A. In other words, restarting the play with the previous decision would be rewarding player A2 for his/her misconduct. So, what should be the correct decision given in such a scenario?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Crebs,
no team that breaks a law should benefit from doing so. The LOTG provides the referee a lot of leeway within the OPINION of certain things not so much on what is deemed mandatory actions.
I recall a beautiful long clearance by the keeper in a hard-fought match, 3/4 upfield, a nice bounce, a smart head nudge up and over the stumbling defender, and the striker broke in scoring a spectacular goal. Super pumped that he had clinched the win, as we were in the last minute of extra time added on! He pulled off his shirt and waved it around. I looked over to my AR thinking how sad it was that as a mandatory caution I am forced to show a yellow card for such a cool goal. Yet a sadder situation was seeing my near AR standing at the goal line pointing back upfield where the far AR was waving the flag indicating something had occurred in behind play. Thanks to a hot-headed keeper deliberately kicking an opponent in the back of the legs, who apparently had hassled him on the punt out I had to disallow the goal due to an offense upfield by his own keeper. The opposition was awarded a free-kick from about 2 yards outside the PA at the other end. I showed a red card and sent off the keeper, reducing them a player then I was FORCED to show a yellow card to the goal scorer even though the goal did not count! The resulting free-kick was taken & missed but the opposition ran out the clock to win by a goal.

In cases where the referee has NOT signaled for the PK to begin, in theory, no matter what occurs it is a retake and any person requiring disciplinary action is dealt with.

Offences and sanctions
Once the referee has signaled for a penalty kick to be taken, the kick must be
taken if it is not taken the referee may take disciplinary action before
signaling again for the kick to be taken.

In cases where the attackers create misconduct that occurs PRIOR to the restart of play at a PK and the AR cannot relay this information to the CR. If the CR has signaled for the restart to begin then it goes ahead and if a goal was scored it would not count it would be retaken after the disciplinary actions were dealt with If the PK missed or was saved it is an INDFK out after the disciplinary actions are dealt with.

If, before the ball is in play, one of the following occurs:
• the player taking the penalty kick or a team-mate offends:
• if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken
• if the ball does not enter the goal, the referee stops play and restarts with
an indirect free kick


In cases where the defenders create misconduct that occurs PRIOR to the restart of play at a PK and the AR cannot relay this information to the CR. If the CR has signaled for the restart to begin then it goes ahead and if a goal was scored it would count and it would not be retaken. The culprit could be disciplined for the nature of the misconduct but we would restart with a kick-off. However, if the PK misses and plays continues, & the misconduct can not be ignored as trifling if it was reckless or excessive VC in nature then we are going to retake the PK.

• a team-mate of the goalkeeper offends:
• if the ball enters the goal, a goal is awarded
• if the ball does not enter the goal, the kick is retaken
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Crebs
Interesting scenario and one that will depend very much on the actual circumstances and timing.

The Laws tells us that if the referee signals for the kick to be taken and an offence occurs the referee allows play to continue and the matter dealt with after the kick.
In your example as the kick is not scored, the referee sanctions A2 with the appropriate card and the restart is an indirect free kick from the penalty mark. If a goal was scored the penalty kick is retaken.

Now if the misconduct happened before the signal to take the kick the referee has no choice in your scenario but to award a corner kick after he takes the appropriate action against A2. The referee can argue that play had restarted so he was not going back to a retake.

Now in reality in the heat of a game is the exact moment of the misconduct going to be determined. Perhaps if the trail AR is certain of when it happened then the referee can factor that into his restart. I cannot see any referee going to give the offending team another go if the penalty kick has been missed. At worst he is going to go with the IDFK to the defending team and at best a corner kick.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Crebs,
I think you are proceeding from an incorrect assumption here. There are two possibilities, but neither of them leads to the penalty being retaken.

1. The offence occurred after the referee signalled for the penalty to be taken. In this case, with an offence by a team mate of the penalty taker and since a goal was not scored, the restart is an indirect free kick to the opponents. The is the more likely scenario, based on the way I read your description of it.

2. The offence occurred before the referee signalled for the penalty kick. In this scenario, after the offence occurred, play was restarted (by a penalty kick) and has now gone out again over the goal line and the restart is a corner kick. Even if the referee is advised of an earlier offence by the AR now, the corner kick restart cannot be changed.

Law 5 states:

"The referee may not change a restart decision ... on the advice of another match official if play has restarted."

In either case, while the referee can go back and deal with whatever occurred as misconduct (if appropriate), the restart is still either an indirect free kick or a corner kick and not a retaken penalty.