Question Number: 20964

Law 13 - Free Kicks 3/11/2009

RE: Division 1 Under 19

Dave Feltey of Metairie, Louisiana USA asks...

Red Player A is defending on his offensive half of the field. During the course of play his feet tangle with Blue Player A who goes down. The referee calls an IDFK for Blue. Red Player A gets up and moves about 6 or 7 yards from the ball. Blue Player A asks for ten yards and the ref indicates for the Red player to move back. The Red player turns his back to the ball and slowly jogs away.

At this point Blue Player A strikes the ball, which hits Red Player A (who is now 7-10 yards from the ball)in the back. The ball rebounds towards the goal. Red Player A moves to the ball and scores on a long shot from just outside the 18. The ref disallowed the goal and brought it back for a restart from the IDFK. Was the IDFK restart the proper call? I didn't get the chance to speak to the official after the match to ask him about the play.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

First off, you seem to be describing a trip. The restart for that is a DFK, not IFK.

Then the referee instructs the player to remove himself 10 yards from the ball, but doesn't seem to tell the kicker to wait for a whistle.

The kicker goes early, and instead of immediately halting play, the ref waits until an apparent goal has been scored.

All in all, if these are the facts, not an impressive performance.

If a player requests help with the minimum distance, the referee should then tell that player he is not to kick without a whistle. If he does, the ball is brought back for a retake of the kick, and the kicker should be cautioned.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Sounds like a few things are wrong. The restart should have been a DFK for tripping not an IFK. When the player asked the referee to intervene, the referee should have made it very clear that the kick could not be taken until he whistled. As soon as the kick was taken in your scenario the referee should have blown the whistle and had the kick retaken properly

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