Question Number: 15974

Law 14 - Penalty kick 7/8/2007

RE: Other

travis remell of edmonton, canada asks...

i wus reading the new fifa booke.. and i was reading hte penalty kick section and it says..

if the ball is kicked and deflectid off of a goalkeeper, poste or crosbar and touches an outside agent the play is blown dead

wuts an outside agent?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

An outside agent is any non-player that enters the field of play that should not be there. It could be the coach, it could be a spectator, it could be a dog, it could be a toddler who's parent isn't watching her close enough. It could be a ball that crossed over from the adjacent field.

This provision in Law 14 is telling us that there's a difference when the outside agent touches the ball with respect to a penalty kick. If the ball is still on it's initial path toward the goal, the PK is retaken. If the ball has already been deflected off the keeper or goal frame, then play is stopped and restarted with a dropped ball.

If the outside agent is someone associated with one of the teams who should know better - a parent for example - the referee should tell the coach that person must leave before the game will restart. If it was a coach, she should be dismissed from the field for not behaving in a responsible manner. Either one should be written up in the referee's report.

If it was an accidental entry - the toddler or dog - we just have the responsible party capture the beast and tell them to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Could also be a duck,shoe,arrow,bullet etc

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

An outside agent is something that's not a player, substitute, substituted player or match official. It can be a member of the team's technical staff, your mom or dad, anything the referee doesn't have the power to discipline.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Anything besides a player, substitute, referee, asst. referee, or other match official. Examples would be spectators or animals .

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