Question Number: 16302

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/13/2007

RE: Other

Nichaols Broderick of Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada asks...

This is another weird made-up situation that I've come up with:

A goalkeeper has just taken the ball into possession with his hands and is about to release it. He moves up to the outer edge of his penalty area with the ball still in his hands when he slips and falls to the ground, and with the ball still in his hands the ball is now completely outside the penalty area. Knowing this, he immediately returns the ball to the penalty area and then releases it.

So the question is, is this a handling offense or not?

Reading Law 12 it says that "A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following four offences... handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)." I see two ways to interpret this:

1. The handling of the goalkeeper is deliberate in that he maintained his hands in contact with the ball. The fact that this then occurred outside the penalty area is consummate with a handling offense.

2. The handling of the goalkeeper is not deliberate in that, although he had clear intent to handle the ball, he had no intent to handle it outside his own penalty area. Hence there is no handling offense.

What part of a goalkeeper's actions must be deliberate for him to commit an offense?

Granted, I can think of other situations where I could be less forgiving: When a goalkeeper charges after a ball that is moving towards his penalty area and jumps to handle it but his momentum carries the ball outside the penalty area in his hands. It would not be unfair to expect him to realize that his momentum would carry him far enough to take the ball outside the penalty area and hence I would consider this deliberate handling and award the DFK to the attack and dole out whatever sanction applies to the situation. But in the event of a complete accident such as in the original scenario I'm not so sure what to do.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Most likely this is a trifling event, and should not be called at all. Then one doesn't have to decide whether the goalkeeper deliberately fell, deliberately kept hold of the ball, or did everything totally by accident. No harm, no foul. If this is at a game with younger age players, the referee might advise the keeper that it isn't always wise to try to squeeze every last inch out of the PA before releasing the ball, because that makes it much easier to cross the line.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I'd agree that in this scenario it's trifling, but what if it wasn't. I still would say no call because the keeper slipped. He certainly didn't slip on purpose so I wouldn't whistle this. Now, suppose the ball squirted out 5 or 6 yards and the keeper went and grabbed it with his hands. This at least would be a handling violation and depending upon circumstances could even end up in a sending off for DOGSO

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee must, as the sole judge of what is happening, determine beyond doubt if what he sees is deliberate. If the referee considers it dubious, in other words cannot be determined by the players themselves of the referee, he should not intervene. Here the player, after falling to the ground carries the ball outside the penalty area. This doesn't seem a deliberate act though it might be worthy of mention. The referee might ask more care be taken, he might even stop play to see if the goalkeeper has sustained an injury. OR as Ref Contarino mentions might have to consider other sanctions. I tend to classify this one as a "You have to be there and see for yourself".

Regards,