Question Number: 20930

Law 13 - Free Kicks 3/4/2009

RE: Select Under 17

Walt Heat of Gallatin, TN Sumner asks...

I was reading a magazine lately that presented a situation to readers and asked them to select the correct call. The situation was this:

Red has been called for offside in the Blue penalty area. The Red player kicks the ball to his goalie, however the goalie misses the ball and it enters the goal.

The magazines says that the solution is to award a corner kick to the Blue team.

However, from my understanding of Law 13, the ball is not in play until it exits the penalty area. Like a throw-in, I have been told that if the ball does not enter play that the kick should be re-taken.

Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

If Red has been called for offside, why is Red taking the kick? The kick should be an indirect for blue in their own penalty area. If the Blue player kicks the ball to his keeper or into the net it doesn't make any difference as the ball must clear the penalty area before the ball is in play, so the restart is to retake the indirect free kick. If the keeper had touched the ball you would still restart with the IDFK

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The writer for the magazine forgot to state the ball must leave the PA first, I guess. Oops.

Kudos to you for catching the error!

Now, if the ball had cleared the PA, and say the wind blew it back or it bounced off of the referee and went into the goal without being touched by any other player, then yes, the restart is a CK.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

The question is confusing, if RED was guilty of an offside infraction then BLUE gets the INDFK out so why is red taking the kick?

Let's assume it was a blue kick!
If the referee and AR had ensured the ball was correctly placed where the red offside position WAS FIRST initialized and the red INVOLVEMENT occurred INSIDE the blue penalty area! HOWEVER< we can not be sure those TWO spots are the same?

They COULD be and IF it was so then the INDFK for blue should restart from INSIDE blue's penalty area. ANY free kick from inside ones OWN penalty area MUST travel into play OUTSIDE the boundary lines. A ball that starts INSIDE the blue penalty area kicked into their own blue goal does not qualify leaving the area into PLAY hence the ONLY recourse is to retake the INDFK and warm blue to not fool around delaying the restart. Mind you as Ref Maloney points out a wind blow back or referee wrong place wrong time rebound if the ball did completely leave the area into play and reverse itself back to the goal in some weird physics experiment a red corner kick is the correct restart.

If the ball was NOT positioned inside the penalty area because where the offside position was FIRST initialized was actually OUTSIDE the blue penalty area then the restart is OUTSIDE the boundary line and if that ball was passed to the blue keeper who misses that ball and it crossed the goal line under the crossbar between the posts ONLY THEN is a CORNER kick awarded to red.

If the blue keeper had in fact touched the ball and miss played that ball so it still entered the goal you award the goal to red and restart with a kick off! This could apply to the illegal use of the keeper's hands as advantage could be applied to that outcome instead of the INDFK for using the hands on a deliberate kick from a team mate.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

It is unfortunate you omitted the magazine's name...