Question Number: 16085

Law 13 - Free Kicks 7/22/2007

RE: Competitive Under 19

Bob Gadsby of Invermere, BC Canada asks...

I watched a few recent U20 games. Consistently, on free kicks, players set up walls about 3-4 yards from the ball. Clearly they were delaying the restart. I did not see any cautions issued for this type of infraction.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Bob,
I could not agree more.

Although the referees are told by FIFA to enforce the laws they still acknowledge the widely held belief
"The game is for the players, it's for their enjoyment and benefit, and it's not being played for the referees."
This adage: "It's the players' game." is almost always used to justify letting almost anything go, as long as the players are happy with it. A good referee will try to not be more or do more than necessary however, players and coaches bear some responsibility to what extent a referee becomes more than a 12th guy running around the pitch trying to stay out of the way.

IN developing an understanding of the level of T and A Tolerance and Acceptance (not a sexy reference lol!) of what passes for fair play and still within the boundaries of the laws is known as law 18 the bend ability of the laws to accommodate the wishes of the players and the needs of the game within the spirit of the laws.

In matches that we do, we try to uphold the laws, maintain the safety of the players, find the tolerance level of acceptable fair play and consider the needs of the match. So what consistency is there but in the application of the laws themselves? If we set an example of OUR understanding of laws and the application of it, can not a team or a coach learn not to expect much different if we stay true to that philosophy? While we can set a level of trivial or doubtful if simple nearness by an opponent does not affect the result of a kick it is the CONTINUAL flagrant disregard of the MANDITORY NEED to withdraw or at least begin the withdrawal once the direction of a free kick is identified that creates these issues in the first place.

The delay of restarts are events which generally occur after a stoppage but before the restart where the failure to respect the ten yards occurs once a ball is put in play. You see on a quick free kick there might not be time for an opponent to make it to ten yards. So if the opponent was withdrawing and the free kick catches his backside at 5 yards away it is not his fault nor have any laws been breeched. If at 5 yards he sees the free kick being taken and stops withdrawing or takes action to intercept or change direction to take away a passing option he has failed to respect the law and withdraw according to law.

The key in recognizing the opposition must be withdrawing and once the ball is in play they can then stop withdrawing is the doubtful area of law 13 which states if there are opponents closer than 10 yards we COULD retake. Not that we have to but COULD nor must we caution. Law 12 requests we CAUTION and show a yellow card if the opponent flagrantly disregards his obligations in these matters.
So with a quick kick that hits a nearby opponent closer than 10 yards we can simply redo, allow play on or redo and caution as the situation dictates.


In the officiating world *free* means the player taking the FREE KICK is unencumbered by defenders lurking delaying or anywhere within 10 yards of the spot. A referee blows for the foul and points in the direction the FREE kick. This information determines whose team gets to take it and which team must withdraw!
We could hold up ten fingers and bark, 10 yards now vamoose! Dix, Zen or whatever ten is in the language of those playing. We could generally do this once or twice if at all in a match to hasten or reinforce to the reluctant opponents they best move quickly. We COULD caution for this far more often than other referees. We COULD tell the captains at the intro the optimal word in free kicks is *free* Do you understand?
Ceremonial restarts are performed FAR too often because the game has been compromised by the willingness not to show a needed card to set a standard that can be applied game in and game out as an easy fix to the two minute or more delay debacles that happen after a foul has been awarded. We all get how to point to a whistle and manage a wall where we, or maybe** You and I** do not get is, why do others do it so often?
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Referee should have at least sternly warned them and issued the caution the next time. 3-4 yds is too close. They are clearly doing this to delay the kick to give defense time to set up. No excuse for this as this is poor wall management.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

In June 2007 US Soccer was forced to publish a memo chastising a referee who allowed a player nearer than ten yards to the ball, during a quickly taken free kick, to move toward and intercept it. He passed it off to a team mate and a goal was scored. The memo didn't offer a solution or how to judge when the encroaching player didn't bother the kicker.

The real answer is found in Law 13 and Law 12. Law 13 says if an opponent is closer to the ball than the required distance the kick is retaken. Law 12 states this is a cautionable offence called Fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or a free kick.

Logical thinking leads the referee to this conclusion: a player taking a successful free kick with players, even very close by, would rather continue play than take his free kick again. To him a player[s] stationed nearby was a trivial thing. The other side of this is when a player kicks the ball and it hits an unmoving opponent, that is simply the price the player paid for kicking his free kick at that player.

So, if a referee sees a player inside 10 yards, on a quickly taken free kick, and that player actively interferes my moving toward the ball, to include reaching out a boot, play is stopped, the opponent is cautioned and shown the yellow card, moved to ten yards and the free kick is taken again, this time freely.

The reason the letter was necessary is because at some time in that referee's career he was trained to allow opponents to be within the required distance at the taking of a free kick. Who trained him are the assessor's who allowed him to progress up the food chain when he did things like this. Who trained him were other referees he admired doing this thing and being allowed to by assessors. Who trained him were assignors who assigned him BECAUSE he didn't give cards for this. Who trained him were instructors who didn't tell him what he was doing was just plain wrong. The referee awarding a free kick AND not allowing it to be taken freely is a referee who doesn't understand what the free kick was given for.

Free kicks are awarded for players violating the Laws of the Game in a manner where the player[s] involved are not able to carry on with what they were doing. When a referee awards a free kick it is punishment for a deed[s] done. When opponents are allowed to further disadvantage the harmed player by crowding around the ball or referee and delaying the restart are doing so with full knowledge of what they are doing.

Referees have allowed The Game to come to this. Only referees can change it and the change will be painful. The change will require a caution for each player delaying the restart or failing to respect the required distance at the taking of a corner kick or a free kick.

Professional referees will be told not to do this because the paying spectators might not come back. To this I say rubbish. If the number of players cited for this behaviour causes a match to be abandoned because there are less than seven players on one team then allow them free entry to the replay. They'll come back.

And that's how I feel about that,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I also watched a few of these matches and was very disturbed to see this behavior and absolutely nothing being done about it. Even when there was no quick kick there would be opponents standing 3-4 yards from the ball. When this sort of behavior is allowed on televised matches, it percolates down to youth soccer and these younger players and their coaches are indignant when they are cautioned and shown the yellow card. Invariably I hear the same thing; "We see this allowed on TV all the time". While they are correct it's hard for them to accept what the Law actually says. WHen professional referees do not do their job, it makes it very dificult for the rest of us.