Question Number: 17070

Law 13 - Free Kicks 10/3/2007

Stan Sneath of Wayne, PA USA asks...

At a game in which I was an AR, an opponent gave perhaps 6 yards at at free kick restart (not ceremonial), and was struck by the kicked ball. The CR awarded a re-kick. The ATR suggests that no rekick is appropriate in this type of case. Is there any circumstance where it would be proper to award a rekick in this situation?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Absolutely. Law 13 makes this statement: If when a free kick is taken, an opponent is closer than the required distance: the kick is retaken. That is the Law. Pure and simple, the Law.

ATR discusses what the referee should do when a player is within the required distance AND retiring [even at a snail's pace] when the free kick is taken and what should happen when he moves toward the ball and intercepts it after the kick. In ATR 2007 there have been significant changes to policy regarding encroachment on free kicks even though some older verbiage remains.

I am firmly of the opinion that when a player moves toward the ball after a "wall" has been set or makes an effort to intercept the ball after a quick free kick he MUST be cautioned. The why of that is simple.

When the referee sees a player delay things close to the ball he has seen what? Yes, a failure to respect the required distance at the taking of, yada yada.. That is an offence for which the player is cautioned and shown the yellow card. Failure to stringently enforce this distance means the referee agrees that free kicks are not supposed to be taken freely.

Now your referee enforced the distance by seeing the free kick was taken freely, this is a good thing. The question I now ask is: were there any more free kicks interfered with or was what the referee did sufficient to deter the encroachment. If there were no more what he did was correct. If this action was repeated throughout the match then the referee didn't do enough to curtail the behavior.

By the way the words in the changes to this year's ATR chapter 13 are mostly mine...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The ATR does not refer to a stationary player that has refused to give the required 10 yards as in this case. It refers to players trying to give the 10 years but are struck by a ball from a kick taken before the player had the chance to get 10 yards away. Law 13 is clear. It's a retake and should also be a caution.

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

See Question: 17140