Question Number: 5980

Law 5 - The Referee

RE: Any

Bob Greenwood of Huntington Beach, California USA asks...

An attacking player is lying injured inside the penalty area. A defending player kicks the ball in touch so that the injured player can receive treatment. After the injured player is treated, an attacking player takes the throw-in. Attacker #6 calls for the ball saying, "Give it to me and I will give it to the goalkeeper!" The ball is thrown to Attacker #6, who promptly and intentionally kicks the ball into the goal! [Almost] every referee thinks that this is unfair and conflicts with the spirit of the game. But it infringes no law per se...Within LOTG what should the referee do? Or should he have done?..Thank you.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Bob if the referee is to be completly correct he awards the goal and restarts with a kick off...If he chooses he may view the actions of the attacker #6 as unsporting behavior and caution him for his efforts. The restart would be Indirect Free Kick at the point of the unsporting behavior, subject to the special circumstances of Law 8. ..A little preventative action would be to suggest, not require, the thrower to just throw it to the keeper. If he doesn't the throw-in was improperly done, award a throw-in to his opponents. This is not in accordance with Law per say, just as the caution is stretching the things a bit. It is, however, a way out of the problem...Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Morley

The is no law in force which a) requires a team to kick the ball out of play so an injured player can be treated, or b) that the team that takes the restart has to give the ball back to the team which kicked the ball out of play. Therefore the correct decision in law in the case that you describe is to award the goal. What you describe has happened in recent years and is (from my point of view) to be welcomed. The way I would deal with the incident is to ask the person taking the throw to throw the ball back to the keeper. If he fails to do that and throws it to a colleague, I am sure I could find a reason to call a foul throw and award it to the opposition, not correct in law but certainly in keeping with the sportsmanship shown by the opposition..Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 18796