Question Number: 13256

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 7/2/2006

RE: High School

R. Cooke of Ottawa, Ontario Canada asks...

For the "ball out of play rule", I have had a few arguments with colleagues about precisely what it means for "the whole of the ball to cross the hole of the line". Does this imply that, for a linesman standing directly over a stationary ball, if the very innermost part of the ball is blocking the view of the very outermost part of the touch line, the ball is still considered to be in play?


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Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

That is exactly what it means, any part of the ball in contact with the plane of the outer edge of any line places the ball in that area, on the files, in the penalty area, in the corner arc, etc.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The whole ball must be over the plane (even the part not touching the fround).

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

You are spot on mate!
THe lines extend as an invisible wall into the air and although the ball is curved if the outermost edge of that curve breaks the plane it is still in play. By that same logic when the ball is returned to play it becomes live at that same spot! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I have made an error in my answer when I referred to the corner arc.

It has been clearly stated by the International F. A. Board, the
makers of the Laws of the Game, that the ball must physically touch
the lines demarcating the corner arc.

The rule the player in your incident refers to applies only to balls
being either in play or out of play. In those situations, the ball
must simply break the vertical plane of the line to be in play and
need not touch the line physically. This does not apply to the
corner kick. You will find a diagram on corner kick placement in the IFAB/FIFA publication "Questions and Answers on the Laws of the Game, which can be downloaded from www.fifa.com.

Added 11 Sep 06,

BALL PLACEMENT AT CORNER KICK AND PENALTY KICK
Your question:
FIFA's Laws of the Game states that on a Corner Kick "the ball is placed inside the corner arc...". My question is: Does "inside the corner arc" mean that the ball cannot touch any part of the goal line, side line or arc marking? Or does it mean that any part of the ball touching any part of the goal line, side line or arc marking is considered "inside the arc"? Inside the "Field of Play" is any part of the ball still touching the goal line or side line. Would not the same interpretation hold true for the goal line, side line or corner arc marking when taking a Corner Kick? For that matter, would the same hold true for the placement of the ball for a Penalty Kick, i.e. the ball can be placed anywhere, as long as the ball is still touching the Penalty Kick marking?

USSF answer (April 16, 2007):
On a corner kick, the ball need only break the plane of the arc or the touch- or goal lines to be considered in the proper position.

On a penalty kick, the ball must be ON the penalty mark.

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

See Question: 13683