Question Number: 17392

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/19/2007

RE: Rec/Select Under 13

Sarah K of san antonio, TX USA asks...

Two short questions this morning -
1. While reffing a U12 girls rec game, the (fairly unskilled) goalkeeper went to punt a ball out and ended up punting it nearly straight up. She caught the ball (one foot out of Goal Area but ball, imo, still within area) and re-punted. Opposing team called for handling the ball (which it wasn't due to ball location), but should I have called IDFK for double touch?
2. While watching my son's game (U12B select), goalkeeper went to retrieve a stray header from teammate and ended up grabbing the ball and running out the side of the Goal area. Ref called handling so keeper dropped ball and ran into goal. Because opposing team was not nearby, keeper had time to get into position (and a mini-wall set) prior to DFK. My question though is, if the attacking team were closer, is there anything the keeper can do to give himself a bit of time to re-position? I know he has no right to delay the re-start - my thought though for him would be, were something like this to happen again, toss the ball to the ref and RUN into position. That seems the least "offensive" course of action (when compared to kicking the ball away, holding onto the ball, having a teammate stand in front of the ball, etc.) Appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks-
Sarah

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

1) Technically this is an infraction for second-handling by the goalkeeper. They question you need to ask yourself is whether the infraction needs to be called, or if it is trifling. If there's no opponent around and she's not taking extra time, I tend toward trifling.

2) No, there isn't anything that a goalkeeper can do to prohibit an alert opponent from taking a free kick. If he tries, he would be liable for a caution for delaying the restart.

Note: On reading Ref Maloney's answer, I realized that though you wrote "goal area" I read "penalty area", the larger 18-yard zone, because that's what made sense in context. As long as I don't do that on a recert exam, I'll be fine - and yes, I have been tricked up on a question or two because I didn't read it properly. Presuming you meant "penalty area", my anwsers stand.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Sarah, I'm a bit confused about your use of Goal Area. Are you using the term to include the larger area describing the boundary around the goal? If so that is the Penalty Area, and as I'm sure you know, the GK can still handle the ball in there, and it is NEVER a DFK offense. Your scenario 1 is an IDFK offense, but Ref Voshol has excellent advice - follow it. Scenario 2 sounds like the ref got goal area confused with penalty area? Let's assume the GK carried it out of the penalty area with his hands, and thus the DFK was correctly given. The keeper can do a number of things to give himself time, none of them safe and some of which, under the right circumstances could be considered denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Best to drop the ball at the whistle - no one says he has to do it gently or on the exact spot, but he can't throw it - and back pedal into goal as fast as his legs can carry him. Regards

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The first scenario is indeed an infraction of law 12. The result should be an IFK for opponents at the spot of the second touching. Also if the ball was not in the penalty area when the keeper touched it with his hands, then it should a dfk for opponents due to handling the ball deliberatly. In the next scenario the keeper maybe could run to the goal line with ball in hands before giving it to the opponents. Since this would only take 2 seconds, many referees would not caution the keeper for this as it is not a major delay. Of course some referees might however.