Question Number: 12131

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 2/2/2006

RE: rec Adult

richard nguyen of santa ana , ca united States asks...

can the goal keeper throw the (by hand) to his teamates inside the 18 yards box.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I assume you mean throw the ball? Yes, he can do anything he wants with the ball by hand inside his penalty area short of throwing it AT someone with the intention of harming them. I'm not sure i understand your question. The keeper must give up control of the ball once he handels it within six seconds

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Richard,
if a keeper has the ball in his posession using his hands we wil assume that play is live and he has 6 seconds to decide after which he must release the ball.
ONLY on the restart, be it INDFK or DFK or goalkick, defending free kicks originating inside a keepers penalty area MUST the ball travel outside the penalty area to be in play.

A dropball restart could the place a ball in the keepers hands as could a save on a PK or any free kick by the attackers as well as a save during dynamic play. The keeper can do with the ball as he wishes including throwing it within his own PA to a teammate or a mighty toss into the opposing goal if he had such strength. As my colleague points out as long as the thrown ball is handled by the keeper inside his own PA and is not used as a weapon play on !
Cheers