Question Number: 16526

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/2/2007

RE: competitive Adult

Rommel of Provo, Utah United States asks...

On any challenge in the box, can the goalie be touched at all by any opposing player?

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

That depends on what you mean. Once the keeper has maintained possession of the ball with his hands, he may not be "challenged". If there's a ball that a keeper and an opponent are challenging for, the keeper is treated no differently than any other player and contact of some sort is expected. Even if the keeper posseses the ball with his hands, inadvertant contact as long as not careless may be allowed.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Well....sometimes physical contact will happen. Just because the keeper touches another player does not mean he got fouled. The keeper could have initiated the contact or even caused the foul. It could also be a simply 50/50 ball and a collision. It does not automatically make it a foul

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Until sometime after the middle of last century it was possible to charge a goalkeeper into his own goal. That changed after the 1958 season perhaps because Nathaniel Lofthouse of Bolton barged Manchester United's goaltender, Harry Gregg, into the goal on a fair charge, that being a legitimate tactic of the day. It might have been changed because I, as a school boy at Whitney Institute, Bermuda, charged the opposing keeper into his net for my first goal.

Anyway sometime after 1958 a fourth indirect free kick offence was added to Law XII:

4. charging the goalkeeper except when he

(a) is holding the ball;

(b) is obstructing an opponent;

(c) has passed outside his own goal area.

Not too many people could read the meaning of what was written. I always read it as don't touch the keeper inside his goal area, outside he's fair game especially if he's in the way.

Enter today and International FA Board Decision 2, Law 12:

The goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball by touching
it with any part of his hand or arms. Possession of the ball includes
the goalkeeper deliberately parrying the ball, but does not include the circumstances where, in the opinion of the referee, the ball rebounds accidentally from the goalkeeper, for example after he has made a save.

So today a keeper with the ball in his hands is out of bounds. Without the ball he is just any other opponent execpt he dresses funny.

Regards,

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 16557