Question Number: 14753

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 1/29/2007

RE: Select Under 12

Dan McArdle of Port Moody, BC Canada asks...

In the past on an indirect free kick, the ball was often put in play by player #1 making a short pass to player #2 who would then take a shot. I understood that the ball needed to roll one circumference
after Player #1 touched it for the ball to be in play. Increasingly I see player#1 simply tap the ball on top without it moving and then player #2 take the shot.

Since the ball didn't move when player#1 touched it, I don't think the ball is in play and if the shot went directly into goal without touching another player it should be disallowed.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Dan,
they changed the law to a simplified
quote "the ball is in play when it is kicked and moves."
Unfortunately they made it so simple that it fools everyone as to what is a kick and just how much movement must there be!

The point of an indfk restart kick isn't just to move the ball, it is to let everyone know the ball is in play. Tricks which somehow let only the kicking team know the ball is in play are responsible for why we debate what is a kick and ball movement physics 101 as in law the requirements of the restart must be met

Often we see a player kick the ball after a foul, only to have his teammate spot the ball with his hand and kick it again?
Do we call a foul of handles the ball deliberately? No, because everyone knows that first kick didn't put the ball into play.

It was considered almost any touch of the foot to the ball was sufficent, a sole tap on top with the ball was good enough as a kick and a slightly squishing of the ball was by some acceptable movement.

This was somewhat controversial and some sneaky set play antics created confusion so much so that certain national associations actually stated that the ball must be kicked with a swinging motion of the leg by the foot and the ball must move from here to there not a wobble or a slight roll forward and then back to its original spot.

In effect a foot placed on top of the ball was not a kick and a wobble not sufficent movement.

While it will be an opinion of the referee if indeed a ball is put into play on indfk it will clear by the arm raised and then dropped if the two touch condition is satisfied so consider it as a match condition as to what the referee decides is acceptable.

While I would not consider a foot placed on top of the ball and taken away as a kick, I personally will allow a sole roll of the ball as opposed to just the toe or side or heel of the foot to nudge the ball off the spot it occupies as sufficent but my idea of kicked could be slightly different than other national positions taken but I can nevertheless justify it in law!

If a ball is nudged with the foot and a defender rushes in from ten yards and the attacking team makes no complaints as a referee I can accept they both were on the same page as ball in play so who am I at that point to state it different?

It seems simple enough if the referee, can't tell the ball has
been kicked into play, it hasn't, if he says it was then it is.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

That has changed to "kicks and moves" Ball must be kicked to be in play and it must move from point A to point B. Tapping the ball such that the ball just wiggles, but does not actually change position DOES NOT CONSTITUTE a kick. Also, dragging the ball is not a kick.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The "kicked and moved" change simplified some things for us. We no longer have to remember "pi*diameter" to figure out that the ball should have rolled about 27 inches or 69 cm, plus or minus a few. It took out that "no man's land" timeperiod between the foot touching the ball and that distance being achieved. Incidentally, this change was concurrent with the "Great Condensation" of the Laws back in 1997. I find it amazing that we're still debating this 10 years later.

While the change simplified some things, it created some complexitites - what is a kick? what is moved? Some have taken the position that if any molecule of the ball has been caused to as much as vibrate, then the ball has moved. The official position of the USSF (which I realize doesn't apply to you directly) has been that moved means "from here to there". And the ever-popular question, does a tap on top of the ball constitute a kick?

Perhaps the best instruction that we have been given is what Ref Dawson alluded to. The referee has to discern whether any touch of the ball is reasonably intended to put the ball in play, or to simply reposition it for the real restart.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

In the past, lightly tapping the ball on the top was considered enough movement to qualify as kicked and moved. The thinking was that if contract was made, the ball HAD to move, which undeniably true. USSF in the latest Advice To Referees, has taken the official stand in the US that this does NOT constitute kicked and moved. There must be a kicking motion and the ball must visibly move. While no one outside the US is bound by this interpretation they are usually in step with FIFA