Question Number: 20740

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/17/2009

Greg George of Indianapolis, IN USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 20736

No, I was referencing the trickery part that you failed to include originally.

If trickery was involved first (e.g., flip ball up to head), then the goalkeeper cannot bypass using his hands and then touch it with his feet.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Greg if THAT occurred the play is ALREADY dead! The keeper does not even factor into the decision! The indfk and caution is against the player who performs the circumvent. What the keeper does is totally irrelevant!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Just to reiterate, the punishment for trickery is aimed at the player committing the trickery, and that player is NOT the keeper. The punishment is an IDFK, because the player has committed misconduct, unsporting behavior.

If a player heads or chests the ball to the keeper, the keeper can choose to play it with hands or other body parts. No worries.

If a player flips the ball from his knee to his head, and then heads it to the keeper, we're approaching a problem, but not there yet, because a player is allowed to use his knee to get the ball to his keeper, and the keeper is allowed to handle it.

If the player uses his foot (that with which he would kick the ball) to flip the ball up to his head, then we have an attempt to cheat, to circumvent the Law against using the foot to deliberately kick the ball to a place where the keeper can reach it, and the play stops now. Because play is stopped, it matters not who touches the ball next or how (unless it is an attacking player, in which case the referee may be of the opinion that advantage could be applied).

Trickery is in the opinion of the referee, based on interpretation of the Law as intended by FIFA and the IFAB to prevent unfair practices. It includes trying to head a FK to the keeper, among other things. It is a misconduct violation/offense and not a violation/offense of any of the offenses listed in Law 12, except the one allowing for IDFKs for misconduct only.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Ref Voshol rightly points out you originally referenced a question involving the ball being kicked deliberately to the keeper by his teammate. Since you also referenced Law 12 Decision 3 from the 2007 LOTG we all thought you were talking about a question that involved trickery to circumvent the Law as that is what Law 12 Decision 3 was about. The question you referenced had nothing to do with trickery and our answers are all accurate and correct. The keeper may legally play the ball with any part of his anatomy if the ball is kicked directly to him by a teammate EXCEPT HIS HANDS. If you want to throw trickery into it, you are still wrong because we are now back to what Law 12 Decision 3 actually said and also what is updated in 2008 Interpretations. BOTH clearly state that it matters not what the keeper does, if the teammate making the deliberate kick to the keeper uses trickery to circumvent the Law he has committed misconduct and play stops at that point. Ref Fleischer points out what Interpretations says on page 116 which is very clear that play stops at the misconduct and what the keeper subsequently does is meaningless. That said, you are still missing the point of Law 12 Decision 3 which also clearly says that play has stopped with the trickery so it doesn't matter what the keeper does or does not do. Interpretations 2008 is now available at www.ussoccer.com as a separate document as wellas in the FIFA version of 2008 LOTG.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Greg, Please do not use Law 12 IFAB Decision 3 as your proof in this argument as it has been superseded by Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees, page 116 second to last bullet:

Quote

uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play to pass the ball to
his own goalkeeper with his head, chest, knee etc. in order to
circumvent the Law, irrespective of whether the goalkeeper
touches the ball with his hands or not. The offence is committed
by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the
spirit of Law 12 and play is restarted with an indirect free kick

End Quote

That is the applicable portion of the Law and it should be cited when writing a match report of this misconduct. Note: US Soccer has not included Interpretation and Guidelines in their copy of the Laws as a cost cutting measure. To see this information you must obtain FIFA's Laws of the Game through their website. One should note that the Interpretation and Guidelines amounts to 58% of the current Laws of the Game and contains a wealth of 'new' information should you not have read what is offered...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Greg, your question 20736 referenced 20697. That question had nothing to do with trickery. Rather, it was about a misunderstanding of what the goalkeeper is prohibited from doing, because of the common term 'back-pass'. No wonder our panel couldn't figure out what you were talking about in 20736.