Question Number: 15281

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/25/2007

RE: Competitive Under 13

Aubrey Waddell of Maryville, TN USA asks...

I recently refereed a U10 boys competitive tournament game. A player broke through the defense, dribbled close to the goal, and shot at the goal. The keeper dove to his right and stopped the ball, clearly holding his outstretched right hand over the top of the ball with the ball stationary. Less than a second later, the player who made the shot kicked the ball out from under the keeper's hand and into the goal. I blew my whistle and ruled that the keeper had had possession. I am sure that is the right call (the shooter's coach even complimented me on the call after the game), but right after I made the call I realized I was unclear on the proper re-start. I did not call a foul, as the shooter did not contact the keeper in any way, he only contacted the stationary ball. So, I cleared the penalty area of opposing players and gave a drop ball to the keeper. Was this the appropriate re-start, or should I have called a foul and awarded a direct free kick? Would citing the shooter for interfering with the keeper's release of the ball been appropriate here?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You did call a foul. This is listed under Law 12 and the restart is IFK.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The foul play Ref Mueller writes of is:

Playing in a dangerous manner, restart indirect

Carelessly kicks or attempts to kick, restart direct

Recklessly kicks or attempts to kick, restart direct after a caution for unsporting behavior

Kicks or attempts to kick using more force than necessary to win the ball and endangering the keeper, restart direct after a sending-off.

Those are your options.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

From the goalkeeper's own penalty area, it probably matters little whether the restart is a direct or indirect free kick.

In addition to the possiblilites listed by Ref Fleischer, I've seen this described as "prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball into play", an IFK offense. I think that's kind of disingenious, as what really happened is that the fouler forced the goalkeeper to release the ball. I much prefer to go with "kicks or attempts to kick", especially if it's serious enough that you're going to caution the perp. Note that if contact is made, it must be a DFK restart, and you are almost certainly going to be looking at a card of one color or the other. If the ref doesn't address players fouling the keeper, the keeper's teammates will take the matter into their own hands (revenge).

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

personally, I like kicks or attempts to kick and award a DFK but have no problem with playing in a dangerous manner and the award of an IFK. The important thing is this simply is NOT allowed. Drop ball is not the correct restart. A dropped ball is a method of restarting the game when there is no restart given in the LOTG. You have your choice of at least 2 restarts given in LOTG as outlined by my collegues.