Question Number: 15782

Law 14 - Penalty kick 6/13/2007

RE: Rec - AYSO U12 girls Under 13

Jon Harris of Rancho Cucamonga, CA USA asks...

This situation occured during kicks from the mark to decide a league championship match. The kicker and goalkeeper were in place and I blew my whistle to let the kick proceed. The kicker started to run up, then came to a complete stop. She appeared to have slipped a bit in the dirt during her run-up. She then returned to her original position, ran up, and took the kick. The goalkeeper made the save.

After the match, one of my ARs told me I should have blown the whistle after she stopped her initial run-up, counted it as a non-goal, and should not have let her continue her kick.

If this had occured during the run of play, Law 14 states that if a player taking the kick infringes the LOTG, the referee allows the kick to proceed. If a goal is scored the kick is retaken. If a goal is not scored, the kick is not retaken and an IFK is awarded to the defense at the spot of the infringment.

How is this applied during kicks from the mark? Should I have let the kick proceed as I did, and then ordererd a retake if she had scored?

To be fair to the kicker, I don't think she was trying to be unsporting. I think she genuinely slipped. The goalkeeper didn't flinch when she stopped her run-up. The kicker returned to her original position, the goalkeeper reset herself, and an otherwise legal kick was then taken.

Did I handle this correctly? Thanks.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Without getting into a difficult explaination of this consider what you have said for a moment... "The player slipped" - if the player slipped on her way up to kick the ball, stopped and returned to her spot only to try all over again - is there any real harm here? No, I don't think so.

I say you were correct to allow the kick, no law has been infringed anyway. We punish deliberate breaches of the law, this was an accident. Besides, a player is allowed to feint while taking a penalty anyway so really, I don't see where your partner was coming from.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I totally agree with my colleague Ref Montanino you saw it as a slip, an accident, we do NOT punish accidents. You did great! Cheers