Question Number: 15246

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/23/2007

RE: Competitive High School

Greg Carroll of Reston, Virginia USA asks...

My question centers around Law 12 and the passback to the keeper. As you know, the relevant LOTG states, (an infraction occurs when the keeper), "touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate."

I am having a debate with another referee and I want to get it straight since it happens often enough to justify my seeking clarity. My fellow referee is interpreting an attempted clearance (mis-kick) by a defender and the subsequent picking up of the ball by the keeper in the PA as an infraction resulting in an IFK in the PA. My interpretation is that the mis-kick was not "deliberately to him" so there was no infraction by the keeper, play on.

What do you say?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You are right and your friend is wrong. The defender has to deliberatly kick the ball (w/ foot) to keeper. Attemoting to clear the ball means the defender had no intention to kick ball to keeper.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hu Greg. Have your friend check out Advice To Referees published by US Soccer. In it he will see we are not to confuse a miskick with a deliberate pass with the foot.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

In the case of the ball winding up in the goalkeepers hands the referee must have already determined if it got there in such a way that he is permitted to use his hands. Ways that prevent the hands from being used:

1. It was deliberately kicked to him by a team mate or deliberately kicked by a team mate to where he could play it.

2. It came to the goalkeeper directly from a team mate's throw-in.

3. He just released it from his hands and it had not touched another player.

If, in the referee's opinion, a miss-kick is a deliberate kick then that's the field condition that day. This is why so very few professional keepers ever handle a ball that has struck the foot of a colleague. In America we have in writing exactly how to interpret "deliberately kicked"

Advice to Referees on teh Laws of the Game:

12.20 BALL KICKED TO THE GOALKEEPER

A goalkeeper infringes Law 12 if he or she touches the ball with the hands directly after it has been deliberately kicked to him or her by a teammate. The requirement that the ball be kicked means only
that it has been played with the foot. The requirement that the ball be "kicked to" the goalkeeper means only that the play is to or toward a place where the ?keeper can legally handle the ball. The
requirement that the ball be "deliberately kicked" means that the play on the ball is deliberate and does not include situations in which the ball has been, in the opinion of the referee, accidentally deflected or misdirected.

Regards,