Question Number: 16050

Law 9 - The Ball in and out of Play 7/16/2007

RE: comp

joe of anaheim, ca usa asks...

This question is a follow up to question 16030

no i still disagree. if you can touch the ball while out of bounds then you can set up a play for that exact reason to jake the other team. the way you guys are interperting it it is "always" ok whether it was intentional or accidential which means that you could ahve this as a true "play". hence to say if a player is on the sidelines and shielding the other player oyu could just run out of bounds and kick the ball away from them and jsut say oh i got pushed. it cannot be a judgement call as it has to either you can or cannot do it. so i am guessing from your answers it is always ok?

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

We offer advice that's as good as unofficial gets, if you choose not to agree with what is given that's your right.

Before you start implementing what you believe, what your head referee and we have advised against, please get in touch with US Soccer Ask A Referee and seek an official answer. The answer may take more than a few days since Mr. Jim Allen, the National Instructor who will answer you, is out of the office until the week's end. We have taken the liberty of posing your questions to the committee who writes the US Soccer publication Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game.

Answer provided by Referee Jon Sommer

You are getting answers from some of the best here so I'd listen if i were u. The way you described the event was a player leaving the FOP in a natural play, not deliberately walking off to gain an advantage. You also state that the ball is in play and is out of bounds when he kicked it because he wasn't on or totally on the field of play. Well here you have a fundemental error in that the position of a player has nothing to do with whether the ball is in or out...the whole of the ball must have crossed the whole of the line for the AR's flag to be raised to signal that the ball is out of play.

Disagree all you like, but you are wasting your breath.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

Hello! Your recent question came my way, and I find it very interesting. Here is what I received:

in #16030 you ask

If a player has on their own left the field of play without stoppage and is still out of bounds and is the ball not now out of bounds? I cannot find an answer anywhere. Exactly what happened: The offensive player was at the goal line 1/2 way between the sideline and goal and fell out of bounds, past the end line, on her own while the ball stayed in bounds. The goalie went to get the ball and the offensive player, while still on the ground and OB, kicked the ball away from the gaolie to another one of her players and they scored. our head ref says that it is ok for a player that has left on their own to kick the ball while OB and i disagree.

My answer: You say the offensive player "kicks the ball that is in bounds," which I assume means the ball is still on the actual field of play or at least some part of the ball is still on the field, since some part is all that matters. I make this assumption based on what the Laws of the Game tell us:
Law 9 - The ball is out of play when:
it has wholly crossed the goal line or touch line whether on the ground or in the air (emphasis added)
play has been stopped by the referee
The ball is in play at all other times, including...(situations not in point here).
(emphasis added)
Okay, if the ball is on the field, then the player, or at least the part of her that kicks the ball is also on the field.

It matters not where the rest of her might be, as long as the part on the field is doing the kicking.

Remember in your entry level class where they talked about a goalkeeper who is standing off the field inside his own goal area who stops a shot right on the goal line? No goal, right? Same thing here. What matters is where the ball is located, not where the player is or might happen to land before or after they play the legal ball on the field.

So, if the ball is on the field, and the part of the player that kicks it is on the field, we don't even have to worry about whether or not she left the field, because in truth, she hasn't. Her leg/foot is proof.

and in #16050 we find

no i still disagree. if you can touch the ball while out of bounds then you can set up a play for that exact reason to jake the other team. the way you guys are interperting it it is "always" ok whether it was intentional or accidential which means that you could ahve this as a true "play". hence to say if a player is on the sidelines and shielding the other player oyu could just run out of bounds and kick the ball away from them and jsut say oh i got pushed. it cannot be a judgement call as it has to either you can or cannot do it. so i am guessing from your answers it is always ok?

Joe - think about this. There are many times when a player (or at least most of them) is legally off the field without the referee's permission. The field isn't a glass box, after all. What about the player who is taking a throw-in or a corner kick or retrieving a ball that has been kicked out? What about the guy who is trying to keep a ball in touch (in bounds) and has to run off the field just a few feet to be able to kick the ball while it is still "in"? All of those are very normal occurrences in a game where the player can be legally off the field and playing the ball which is on the field - remember the lines are part of the field. What about the guy who is challenging fairly for a ball and who get charged fairly in such a way that he is off the field but still playing a ball on the field? Still legal! Isn't that just cool?

When it is not okay is when a player does things like stepping off the field to try and put another player in an offside position, or stepping off the field so they won't be called for offside, but then coming in and playing it anyway. Or if they leave the field for reasons that have nothing to do with playing the game - to smoke or change shoes, or whatever.

Hopes that helps you figure this situation out to your satisfaction. We want you to be comfortable with how it works and the only we learn is by asking questions such as yours.

Michelle Maloney
State Referee Instructor, USSF

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Yes, it is always ok for a player to leave the field - go outside the boundary lines - in the normal course of play. While there, he may play the ball. If the ball has not gone completely over the boundary line, the ball is still in play.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

This is not American football. Its location of ball that matters not player.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Well Joe, you are free to disagree all you want. We are not an "official" website but we usually get the answers right. In this case, what you have described is a player during the course of normal play leaving the field. That is allowed. You want to look it up, see Advice To Referees available at the US Soccer website the 2006 issue is there and look at section 3.9. You ask may a player "always" leave the field of play. The answer to that is, of course, no. He may not, for example, leave the field of play to put an opponent in offside position. He may not leave the field of play and stay off for a period of time to, as you say, jake an opponent. If the question is "during the normal course of events and flow of play, may a player always leave the field of play" the answer is an emphatic yes he may. Additionaly, you are dead wrong if you think the ball was somehow out of play when it never left the field of play. See The Laws Of The Game, Law 9.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Joe,
words like ALWAYS and NEVER, concern me, when it comes to the finer points on the laws of the game!
Not that there are not absolutes.

For example the boundary lines which comprise the field are no more than 5 inches thick. They could be less, at the grassroots they may even be cones, such is the nature of fitting a game to those who play it. The reason it is important you must imagine the lines as 5 inch invisible walls that extend forever upward. If the ball is in contact with that wall for the sake of an absolute the ball is considered to me within the field of play. If you grasp that a ball perceived as in contact with the line , overhanging the line on the ground or in the air it STILL is a judgment call an **opinion **by those officials seeing the ball thus still in play or sees the ball outside, into touch thus the ball is out of play.

I have endeavored to understand what it is you seem to have issues with! If you believe that it is unfair to *PLAY* a ball that is inside the field of play while the player remains outside you obviously see some form of deceit or trickery that is for the most part not there.

It states within the laws of the game *LOTG* that while players need to remain on the field it is within the ethical boundaries to leave the field to avoid a collision or through momentum while playing. Notice I did not say playing the ball, simply running around an opponent or being unable to halt a run can take you off the field.

If a player dribbles the ball into the opposition corner arc against the corner flag to legally waste a bit of time, shielding the ball from the defenders.. Although I might dislike the tactic of using up time in such a way there is nothing in law that says you can not!

If a defender circles around to try and poke that ball free he likely must leave the field to do so. In your view could no opponent take that ball away legally as it is legal to shield a ball within playing distance and the intersection of the touchline and goal line could prohibit an opportunity to *PLAY* the ball?

It could be bad *tactic* for a defender to circle out and around as then the player could take off towards goal. It is NOT however, illegal! What you describe is in fact ALWAYS allowed!
Generally two opponents trap him there and one stays the other attempts to go around and force a move away from the corner.
So let me set your mind at rest and tell you what is NOT allowed by a player leaving the field of play .

If a player leaves the field of play to avoid detection and runs in behind his technical area and remains hidden until he bursts in behind the defenders to *PLAY* the ball or rejoin play in an advantageous position. Then this player has transgressed the laws. It was not doubtful or trivial it was USB. It is likely a caution; show the yellow card for leaving without permission. INDFK restart. Same as a defender who tries to step out off the goal line and place an opponent offside. That too is an act of USB for being off the field deliberately to cheat and is not permitted

You see players *CAN* receive our permission even without asking in situations where the player leaves the field to avoid a collision or play a ball or runs past the goal line or even be treated for an injury because we acknowledge the reason they do so. We prefer they do not and we ask they tell us when possible as in the injury or equipment fix but we are loath to see an injustice if none is truly there! Can you see a keeper who falls into his netted area reach back and stop a ball on his goal line while the rest of him is outside the field of play as something wrong??

The point here is the LOCATION of the ball determines if it is ok to play it. When the ball is played by a player off the field we could ask why is he there and if it was to cheat it is not permitted. The fact that the ball is played by an off the field player is not why we have issues!
Cheers