Question Number: 35178

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/24/2023

RE: Competive Amauteur League Adult

Umidjon of Shenzhen, Guangdong China asks...

Hi,

We had curious situation in our last match which was awarded with penalty against my team by the referee of the match. I would appreciate if you could share with your comments as we want to have professional opinion this.

The action: our goalkeeper captured the ball and was going to throw it forward to our attacking player. However, while our goalkeeper was doing this our defender accidentally (with no intention) bothered him and touched with arm the ball (as referee says). Here to precise that there was no distance between the goalkeeper and defender. The opponent team awarded with penalty.
We argued about the decision made by the referee and asked for indirect free kick or “let it go” as the both players with no intention touched each other and the goalkeeper had the ball under his control (no danger from opponent team).

I would appreciate if you could tell me whether the decision made is correct or it had to be different by the official FIFA rules. I can also share with the video of the action if it helps.

Thanks in advance.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Umidjon,
thanks for the question.

Hmm? In all honesty this appears more of a techy gotcha letter of the law call. While we encourage officials to follow the LOTG there is also something in the understanding of the game . This could be one of those moments where a referee could have chosen to apply what we call LAW 18 or the Spirit of the Game, where common sense tells us , nothing really there, lets just move on and keep going.

It is true a DFK thus a PK is awarded should a defender DELIBERATELY handle the ball or cause himself to be in an unnatural position & block a ball, arms away from the body inside the PA . Just a DFK outside the PA. There is no INDFK possible! By the sounds of it he accidently bumbled into the ball rather then say escorted it into the keeper's arms. or perhaps was in the way when it was being thrown?

Based ONLY on what you described, it is, in my humble opinion, a very harsh call, at this point I can not see why it was needed to make the game fair? The LOTG are designed to instill sportsmanship and fairness, not create scoring opportunities out of essentially nothing. I am with you in thinking this was an unnecessary stoppage but then we are not the referee making the decision. I have no idea what he saw. If the referee WAS to reconsider and truly think about the incident, it is REMOTELY plausible to DB to the keeper, citing it as an inadvertent or accidental whistle stoppage.

I often use the phrases, His match, His decision, His reputation! which is an overview of how a referee manages each game to gain the respect of those he has control over. I dislike stating an opinion on an event unseen because I know often in context what we think we see in video replay or assume from a question, could be seen different in real time from whatever angle of view the onfield official had.

It would be very much appreciated to see the video if one is available to render perhaps a more accurate response.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

HI Umidjon,
Thanks for the question.

First off it is either no offence or a penalty kick. Therr is no possibility of an indirect free kick.

From what you describe I would be of the opinion that there was no deliberate handling so play should have simply continued.
Unless there was *reason* for the action I don't see why a defender would try to deliberately handle the ball in such a situation. So it makes no sense to me and a strange call.

I have seen plenty of situations where attackers try to prevent the release of the ball by goalkeepers which is an offence yet never what you describe.