Question Number: 17792

Law 13 - Free Kicks 11/9/2007

RE: USSF Nat. (4) Professional

William of Anyang, Korea asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17733

As usual the players did not give a completely accurate story of the situation.
As the goal keeper recieved the ball (from a thow-in)near the top left corner of the box, I blew the whistle for the infraction.(FYI, not the teams usual GK and has not played since the law change) The goal keeper then began backpeddling (with the ball in hand) as he was being chased by the attacker. The attacking player took it out of his hands, dropped the ball on the ground and kicked it (with the ball still moving) in order to gain an unfair advantage. The one part they did get accurate was they launched the ball wide of the goal. (almost for a throw in).
Keith Contarino (grade 8 basic referee), you should not accuse a fellow official of making up rules! To those of us with more experience, when have you ever know a player to be 100% honest or even 50% accurate in describing a situation where they felt they have been wronged by ther Referee??
You might try a little different wording such as; If what you are telling me is accurate, the official may have interpreted the rule inaccurately.

Complete level: USSF National (4), NISOA National, USSF National B coach, 7yrs Pro player

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Q 17733 was asking whether the ref had to whistle for a restart to proceed when there was an infraction inside the penalty area. We answered that question - that if the referee had said that, he was mistaken and was making up his own rules.

Now you give us additional information, which changes the scenario. The ref isn't stopping play because he's making up his own rules. Instead you give two reasons why the kick is not correct - it sounds like the ball was misplaced because the goalkeeper moved with it, and it was not stationary.

Which story do we believe? Should we automatically disbelieve anything that comes from a player? We certainly were not insulting you sir. We were telling the player that a referee who made such a statement was wrong. If you are saying that you made no such statement, we have no argument.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Yeah, I have no beef with what you're saying.

I think that we always base our answers on prima facia evidence, and assume the facts of the question are true. If those facts are not true, then our answer would likely be different.

In this case if the player lied, or had a different perception of the events as you, then I don't think you can hold our answer to scrutiny, as we will be the first to admit - when the facts are different, so are the answers we give.

Certainly, if the kick was going to be taken from the wrong place then you HAD to call it back, you have no choice. Good job.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

William, I would be interested how you maintain your National Badge while in the overseas region. From time to time I run into referees who are in the military and this information might be of use to them.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Wow...the player and then the referee both read the same question. How often does that happen? I do not think that Keith meant to insult you in any way. I believe that the players often stretch the stories or simply leave out information. Great to hear from you and keep up the good work.

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

See Question: 17874