Question Number: 34371

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/5/2021

RE: Professional league Professional

KALUNGA of MUFULIRA, Copper belt Zambia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 34368

Law five refers to the ball on FOP thrown by anyone not on the team list that's how the restart is a al is given for a PK to be kicked.
Can such a player be considered to have offended or not?
If the player's action is considered an offense will the award of a goal if it results in consistent with law 10?
Does it mean that the offenses prescribed under law 14 only applies to PK procedure or any offense that can be committed on the field of play by a player?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kalunga
Anyone not listed on the team sheet as a player, substitute or technical staff cannot commit an offence punished by a free kick or a penalty kick. The person is considered an *outside agent* and any interference caused by an outside agent for which play is stopped results in a dropped ball restart at the location of the ball when play was stopped.

To be clear if a player, substitute or substituted player or technical staff throws an object including a ball for which play is stopped then the restart is a direct free kick at the location of the interference which if it happens inside the penalty area results in a penalty kick. If there is no interference then play continues to the next stoppage and the matter dealt with.

If the ball enters the field of play accidentally then there is no sanction. A spectator could throw a ball back on to the field after play had restarted with another ball. If there is no interference then play continues. If play has to stop then play restarts with a dropped ball.

Case in point was the second ball in the England v Denmark game just before the Sterling penalty award. The referee did not stop play and in my opinion that was the correct call as the second ball clearly did not interfere with play.
In the past a second ball was always a reason to stop the game and some abused this by throwing a ball on to the field of play to get play stopped. That is no longer the case. The ball has to cause actual interference.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Kalunga,
Actually Law 5 doesn't talk about the ball being thrown by anybody it just addresses what happens if there is an extra ball on the field of play. It makes it clear that if the ball does not interfere with play then there is no need for any action by the referee.

Law 12 is what talks about a ball being thrown and again it only addresses what happens if the ball interferes with play, an opponent or a match official. Here, as with Law 5 it only becomes an issue if there is interference. If we're still talking about the same scenario you mentioned earlier where the ball is at the opposite end pitch to where the penalty kick is being taken, then it is pretty hard to imagine but there's going to be any interference. There certainly won't be any interference with play and it seems unlikely there would be any interference with a match official or an opponent either.

Ref McHugh has already addressed what would happen, in the case of there being interference caused by a ball thrown by either a player or a non-player.

But going back to your original scenario again, all in all I still don't see where there is going to be an offence, or any need for the penalty to be retaken or the goal disallowed, given the apparent lack of interference.