Question Number: 15918

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 7/1/2007

RE: Select Under 11

Larry Kap of Middletown, PA USA asks...

A free kick is awarded for a hand ball. The ref mistakenly indicates that it is an indirect. Player 1 steps on the ball to restart. Player 2 kicks towards goal and player 3 touches ball into goal. Ref waves goal off, say it was an improper restart. States that the ball must be started with a pendulum motion with inside or outside of foot and that a player cannot step on it to restart. He awards the other team a free kick coming out. What is the correct interpretation?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

How many mistakes can one ref make? I don't mean to castigate a colleague, but this ref needs some training help.

First, if the ref mistakenly awards an IFK, isn't that what happened? The goal was not scored directly - there were 3 players involved. Still, as you know, the restart for deliberately handling the ball is a direct free kick.

Second, the ref is correct that the stepping motion is not an allowable restart per current USSF instruction. What that means in this case is that player 1's touch was not considered to have put the ball into play. But player 2's kick did put the ball into play.

Third, the ref cannot award a free kick to the other team for this. The 3 players have committed no offense! Player 1 has merely touched the ball before it was put into play. Unless the ref wants to see this as delaying the restart and cautioning player 1, there is nothing that has been done wrong. And even if a caution for delay was to be given, the restart remains a free kick (direct, because of the handling) for the same team.

Hopefully this is a newer ref who is assigned to a U11 game because he, like the players, is still learning. If you have not done so already, please report this incident to the league assignor so this ref can be properly instructed.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Wow! Very rare that a referee awards an indirect for a deliberately handling the ball infraction. Usually we see the opposite mistake made where a keeper inside his own penalty area commits a handling infraction and the referee incorrectly awards a penalty kick. Think about what happened here. A team is disadvantaged by another team. The referee further disadvantages this team by mistakenly awarding and IDFK instead od a DFK. The team, nonetheless, overcomes this and scores a goal legally from the IDFK. Then the referee further disadvantages them by calling off the goal and to make matters even worse, he yet again disadvantages them by awarding a free kick to the opponents!!! I know this is only U11 but it is Select and the referee should know better. It's also clearly protestable as a breach in Law occured.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The only thing that the referee did correct here was realize stepping on the ball is NOT sufficient for "kicked and moves". Ref Voshol is correct that the second kick would have put the ball in play, but one other thing needs to be considered here. If the ball was still in motion from the first touch, then the kick would need to have been taken again as the ball MUST BE STATIONARY WHEN KICKED. Of course, the handling the ball deliberatly is a dfk and not ifk.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

There is NO foul of handball!
If the foul is "handles the ball deliberately" it must be a DFK!
WHERE did this event occur?
If it was inside the penalty area this DFK is upgraded to a PK!
If we are to asume the referee had the arm up indicating an INDFK requiring two touches to qualify for a goal You say one player stepped on it a second player kicked it and a third player shot it into goal? That qualifies as two touches for me although the point about a stepped on ball quivering to nullify the restart could hardly be sufficent if we are not counting it as a kicked or moved ball.
The referee in this match requires recertfication, training, a mentor and someone in charge to point out the basic points of law 12, law 13 and possibly law 14.
Yes the event is certainly protestable as a misaplication of the laws!

Just a point on the foot step it is not sufficent to rest your foot on the ball and then remove it or even to tap a ball on its surface or roll a ball from point a to b with your foot on the ball then take it away.

One COULD place their foot on the ball and push or pull the ball in a definable kicking motion by using the sole of their foot to move the ball in an easy to determine first touch. The foot kick includes the sole as well as the instep, outstep, heel, toe or laces. It just must be in the form of a kick!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

When a ref whistles for hand ball and comes up indirect don't you head for a chair? I will. We know what's going to happen next and it's never pretty. It's Keystone Cops, a Chinese fire drill, a goat ropin', a you know it when it happens kind of thing.

This ref didn't screw the pooch he did the whole litter. The method of correcting this is training. The difficulty is training of the kind needed is, usually, not present at the club level. It must come from above. Here is only a start. The ref needs to become a referee and that requires education, experience and time.. Copy what we've said and take it to the powers that be in your area, maybe they can sort it out.. If it is a surprise it is fixable, if not they know about it and approve it.

The corrcct decision is, in accordance with Advice to referees 13.9 a rekick becuase of the incorrect referee's signal.

13.9 SIGNAL FOR INDIRECT FREE KICK

The failure of the referee either to give the correct signal for an indirect free kick or to hold it for the required period of time does not change the nature of the restart, nor does it alter the requirement for a subsequent touch of the ball for a goal to be scored.

Note: This does not apply to an incorrect signal for a direct free kick. Suppose a DIRECT free kick is awarded just outside the opposing team's penalty area and the referee raises an arm as if to signal for an INDIRECT free kick. If a defender were to touch the ball on its way to goal, a goal would be scored. To avoid that, the defenders deliberately make no attempt to play the ball, with the expectation that the referee, who is clearly signaling that the free kick is INDIRECT, would cancel the goal. In such a case, the referee CANNOT award the goal, even though it was scored directly from a DIRECT free kick restart. The decision on the restart was correct, but the signal was not. If the referee had indicated a direct free kick first, rather than signaling for an indirect free kick, there would be no problem, but the referee cannot change his or her mind this time, as he or she has misled the defending team by raising an arm to indicate the indirect free kick. The only fair and correct thing to do here is to retake the kick as a direct free kick.

Regards,