Question Number: 17431

Law 13 - Free Kicks 10/21/2007

RE: Comp Under 15

Paul Cassell of Salt Lake City, UT USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17386

Regarding the various answers to the question #17386, two follow-ups questions:

1. If the referee blows the whistle to end the game while my team is lining up to take a free kick just outside the PA, doesn't that unfairly give the advantage to the fouling player. After all, my player would have gotten her cross in during the time allotted, except for the foul. Now, because of the foul, she never gets to cross the ball in -- so the foul was advantageous.

2. I understand some of the answers to be valid with reference only to the "black letter law" of the FIFA rules (sure, under FIFA rule only PK's technically REQUIRE extra time). But in light of the spirit of the game and prevailing practice and the need to avoid giving the advantage to the fouling player (see my question #1 above), isn't the BEST PRACTICE to allow my team to take its free kick?

Thanks for your time.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Paul it would seem there is some expectation on your behalf that the referee adding time can read the foul player's mind. We can't, all we can do is judge things as they unfold in front of us. I realize it is expected for a team to foul in the waining moments of a basketball game to ensure the last few seconds take five minutes to elapse. It is also expected that a deliberate foul can be used to break up a play in that game or in American football. In this Game we don't deliberately try to do such things and when we do we expect to be cautioned and shown the yellow card, or worse!

Who is anyone to say whether or not the referee had already known time and added time expired before the infraction he stopped play for? Wouldn't it follow that because time had already expired ending the match at that point was not only fair but fair to the attacking side. He did stretch things to see if their skill could win a goal in the last second, didn't he? So there does exist ending play on "that" free kick was not in accordance with the black letter of the Law but more toward the white side of grey.

Again coaches have their priorities and I'm sure the other coach was just as relieved as you were in wonderment. Coaches usually have absolutely no idea what a referee is thinking and this is a good thing! Would you rather be in a high school match or an NCAA match where after the ball is in flight for a sure winning goal the buzzer sounds ending the match so the goal doesn't count?

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Paul,
it will be the best practice for your team and I can not deny the foul may have prevented a cross or shot. But time to take a kick as a shot or as a cross? How far out are we talking? What type of foul? What circumstances? If time was already to be blown the referee just a tick away or past waiting for a better opportunity to end and has already let it go one to long? You are leading 6 to zero you are losing 6 to zero, just how significant is it?

You start with screaming for ten so not to be disadvantaged then we are in with ceremonial restart, we allow another 30 seconds or a minute or so to set the wall get into position your kick is not at goal but as a pass do we allow the follow up shot? What if there is a deflection? Do we wait a bit to see if the attack has played out? If the break was on and time should have been blown but the referee felt he would allow more to see an attack finish and instead of heading to the goal your player took it to the corner to waste time or decided he would cross instead of shoot?

The best practice is for a referee not to make a rod for his back if he can help it. While allowing justice for both teams. A foul that prevents a shot could get more of a look than a foul of a possible attack or cross if time was in fact expired. The nature of that foul, the score, the fact we all already deep past the allotted time.

I understand as a coach that a possible opportunity to get the ball on net has a hope of a goal. But what if the lead up to the foul was not at goal more in fighting for ball possession? Or they were headed away from goal towards the touchline? The laws could have said at ANY free kick but they only said PK can we extend. A PK is always a DIRECT shot into goal. Can we say the same for any free kick?

I have a greater issue with a ball hit towards goal and a whistle sounds just before it gets there than ensuring a free kick gets taken if time was in fact already expired.

Your player was jumped on and a red card for DOGSO was awarded to the opponent at 19 yards directly if front of goal has greater possibilities to get those extra ticks so the kick goes. One minor foul over near the touchline at 35 may not.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Think of it this way. The foul happened maybe 5-10 seconds before time expired. If play can be restarted fairly quickly - the ball is near and all the fouled player has to do is pick himself up and kick it - then very little time has been lost. If the foul itself takes some time, say the ball was kicked a distance away on a slide tackle gone bad, then time has been wasted and the ref should add some additional time. Once the ball has been placed for the kick, there should still be the 5-10 seconds that the ref determined was left in the game. If the kicking team fritters that time away setting up, it's too bad for them. They should have been a bit quicker with the restart.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Here is something to chew on. Fouls are a natural part of the game, as are throw-ins, corner kicks, goal kicks, and goals. I add time for none of these situations. No, really.

I will add time when it is unduly lost through any of those restarts, or subs, or other reasons.

Tactically, it may be to a team's benefit to foul right at the end of the game in the hopes of causing the time to expire at that time - however they do not know exactly how long that is, so they're taking their chances - and if I happen to decide that the foul was worthy of a caution or send-off, I will add the time back on, so it's really a terrible strategy.

In HS or college, where the clock is on the board, this strategy can be more effectively used as the teams will know exactly when the time is up. An opponent used this against my HS team once, and after the foul we couldn't get restarted quickly enough to retain the attacking momentum we had going toward the goal with the final seconds ticking away. I commend them on their tactic, though I feel the referee should have helped us out, in reality we shouldn't have been in that position to begin with.