Question Number: 17910

Law 14 - Penalty kick 11/14/2007

RE: Competitive Under 14

murph of Willsboro, New York U.S.A. asks...

Team blue is awarded a penalty shot, as the blue player is taking the kick, a player from team red, deliberately pushes a team blue player into the penalty box... the goaltender stops the PK, the official allows play to continue. When play is stopped, he issues a yellow card to the red player who pushed the blue player into the penalty box. Should the referee not have re-taken the penalty shot for the foul that was committed during the penalty shot?

Thanks

Murph

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

We have a critical issue of timing here. You say "as the blue player is taking the kick" a red player pushed a blue. Was the push before or after the kick?

If after, then the ref is allowed to let the blue keeper continue with play using the advantage clause. The caution was correctly given at the next stoppage.

Now what if the push took place before the PK? The pusher did not violate Law 14 with the push, but rather committed an act of misconduct while the ball was out of play. Since the ref allowed the restart - the PK - to take place, the timeframe for showing a card has passed.

Advice to Referees has this section:
[quote]
14.11 OTHER VIOLATIONS AT A PENALTY KICK
Although the referee is expected to allow a penalty kick to proceed despite a violation of Law 14 (see Advice 14.9), this is not the case if a player violates some other Law before the ball is put into play. Specifically, if a player commits violent misconduct before the penalty kick occurs (e.g., striking an opponent), the referee must stop further action, send off the offending player, and restart the penalty kick from the beginning.
[endquote]

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The 2007 Advice to Referees 14.9 says any violations of the Laws prior to the referee's signal are treated as dead ball violations - and if this was the case here, the penalty kick would be halted, the misconduct dealt with appropriate to the action, and the PK procedure restarted. If the violation takes place after the referee's signal but before the kick, then what happens to the kick determines whether we retake or give an indirect free kick to the defense. Since in this case, it was a defender who did the dirty deed, the restart will be a retake of the PK after the caution (if one is deemed appropriate), assuming the violation/pushing took place between the signal and the kick.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The kick is in progress when the infringement occurs. The referee allows the kick to proceed. If the goal scores continue play. If the goal does not score, give a retake. In this case a retake.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Pushing is foul play when the ball is in play, it happens on the field, is against an opponent and is committed by a player. Here the ball is not in play. The push then becomes misconduct.

In the case of a player running up to take his penalty the referee must either deal with this violation of the Laws of the Game instantly or allow the penalty to be completed. Here he did just that. What he did next is not in accordance with Law 14. A player opposing the penalty violated the Laws of the Game and Law 14 is specific, the kick is retaken. The referee is trying to be fair failed in his first duty: "enforces the Laws of the Game".

I tend to believe because the referee allowed the restart of play and subsequent play after the saved penalty he has lost his chance to administer discipline. Again, the applicable Law is Law 5, bullet #13. This tells the referee he may allow things to continue after foul play and/or misconduct happens whilst the ball is in play. In your case the ball was NOT in play when the violation of Law 12 happened. The answer is either prevent the restart of play and deal with the breach of discipline OR do nothing about the breach and hope there is no retaliation later in the match. Hoping bad things don't happen is always going to bite you in the arse sooner or later. Dealing with misconduct will always slow things down a bit and allow calmer heads to prevail.

Regards,