Question Number: 15315

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/28/2007

RE: REC Under 19

Gene Thigpen of Killen, AL usa asks...

a forward is driving the ball down toward opposing goal, defender running with him does a bad tackle, the bad move drives the ball out the end line into a field. Ref, correctly calls for a direct kick. The keeper, as customary here, goes out into a field and throws the ball back out onto the playing field and proceeds to return to the playing field, before he can get back, the forward drops the ball, does not ask for 10 yards and kicks the ball in the goal...the 2 sides of the argument, forward says that a direct was called, and so he took it when he got possesion of the ball, the keeper argues, that he should have been allowed to return to his playing position since he was doing his 'duty' to retrieve the ball. what do you think should be ruled? thanks for any and all input.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

"No good deed goes unpunished", huh? I guess this keeper won't be shagging balls anytime soon.

While no specific Law has been broken, common courtesy would indicate that you would wait for your opponent who has helped you to get back into position. The wise referee, when seeing a situation like this happen, should immediately find some part of his attire that needs adjustment, and hold up the restart until he is ready.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Here we have the age old question: what right do the team forcing the referee to stop play because of their foul play have? Answer: NONE!!! The goalkeeper, in leaving the field of play to retrieve the ball has placed himself in a position where he can not defend his goal and was taken advantage of. This is the same thing, in my mind anyway, as standing one one post setting a wall while one of his mates stands near the ball in an attempt to prevent the free kick from being taken quickly.

Yeah, he's a good guy for collecting the ball for his opponents, not wise, just a good guy. Would I stop a quickly taken free kick if the defenders weren't ready? I think not! Would I stop a throw-in when the goalkeeper and his opponent challenged for a ball near a touchline and the throw-in was given to the opponent> I think not! Would I prevent this free kick? Probably not...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Once a free kick has been awarded and the ball is on the field of play, the taker need not wait. Unless your silly "custom" is in writing somewhere, I don't see why the kick could not proceed. In most areas, the team TAKING the kick retrieves the ball to avoid just what happened to you. Of course, in the interest of fair play, the referee could find a reason to delay the restart.