Question Number: 20744

Law 17 - Corner Kick 1/19/2009

RE: Varsity Boys High School

Steve of Vero Beach, FL USA asks...

I was the AR2 in a recent match when Team A decided to get cute with corner kick.

Attacker 1 rushes over, grabs the ball and bends over to set the ball inside the arc. As he rises, he taps the ball forward with his toe and yells 'Joe come take it'. He then leaves and heads toward the PA without the ball. Ball came to rest 1 ft outside the arc.

Joe comes over and dribbles the ball toward the goal. I felt it was a legal play. The CR blew his whistle and stopped play and called a double touch. I called him over for conference and told him ball was put in play by attacker 1, he agreed and we restarted wit an IDFK from where Joe was with the ball when the whistle blew.

I saw the CR raise his whistle and tried to motion to him that it was a fair restart. As we discussed this on our way home from the game, we had the following questions:

1.) CR agreed that the call was not his to make (NFHS Rules), but even in USSF he should defer to the AR whether the ball is put in play or not. Are we correct there?

2.) Does the player yelling, 'Joe you take it' have any bearing on this situation? Should there have been an USB caution?

3.) Would it have mattered if he had said, 'Joe you take the kick', instead of 'you take it'?

4.) Should the AR call out fair restart or ball is in play in a situation like this? That would seem to take the tactical advantage away from the team using this (IMO ridiculous) resart?

As always, I appreciate your insight.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This is basically the play Rooney and Griggs did in Europe about 3 weeks ago. It's a variation on what we at this site have long called a stupid trick that rarely works. The player in your example fooled the referee who blew the play dead. The same thing happened to Rooney and Griggs. The ploy is legal. The first player kicked and moved the ball so it is in play. It should be noted that the ball does NOT have to leave the corner arc to be in play. It's against the Spirit of the Law in my opinion but as for now, the play is legal and there is no misconduct. I can only speak as a USSF referee but the restart your center referee employed was incorrect as per FIFA and USSF. The restart should have been a dropped ball from where the ball was when the CR blew his whistle unless inside the goal area. I'm curious; is this the high school rule that gives the team in possession an IFK rather than a dropped ball if the referee stops play wrongly?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

1. It is ALWAYS the referees call to make, even in HS.

2. No, deceving the other team is permitted, provided it is done in a sporting way (e.g. calling out 'I got it' when an opponent is about to receiving the ball, so they will leave it for you = unsporting.)

3. No, unless the act was unsporting.

4. They do it that way in England. Those refs are instructed to shout 'Ball is in play' so there can be no debate later on as to the ruling, by either party.

If you had determined that the ball was in play 1st , then the ref wrongly blew up for 2-touch, the IFK is correct if possession was clear.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If you accept the ball was placed in the arc and then kicked and moved then the ball is live.

If a defender then rushes closer then ten yards and the attacker screams for ten yards be sure and caution the attacker for the USB of trying to have it both ways.

This, "You take it!" stuff is no longer going to fly if we have to decide WHEN it is a kick or when it simply positioning the ball based on verbal clues!

As a coach when defending we attack the ball all the time when these pussy foot tricky dickey crap are tried and the referees wants to caution us because they are NOT aware as we are?
Just how fair is that??

Given this foolishness I suspect on every restart we are going to have a new piece of legislative LAW!
The ball must be placed on the spot with the hands and ANY foot to ball contact is now a KICK!

The referee has the discrestionary power to decide if the restart can go ahead . A corner kick is a restart, but is NOT based on a foul, so lets not allow this kicked crap to linger as we cheekily try to figure out yes it was or no it wasn't!
Cheers

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

See Question: 20749