Question Number: 21955

Kicks From The Penalty mark 9/13/2009

RE: Rec Under 10

Alex of Toronto, Ontario Canada asks...

In a shootout situation to break a tie, if a shooter takes their shot before the referee blows the whistle, and the goaltender saves the ball, does the shooter get to retake the shot, because the whistle was not blow yet?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

In as I am tempted to say just glare and allow the miss or save to stand, technically YES! The kick is to be retaken!
It is NOW a POLICY statement in the LOTG page 76 Interpretation of the laws of the game and guidelines for referees that a WHISTLE is required to signal a PK opportunity!
Use of whistle
The whistle is needed to:
? restart play for:
? free kicks when the appropriate distance is required
? penalty kicks
The referee must diligently work and stay focused to prevent this from occurring. Get eye contact with the kicker, hand them the ball and say loudly so even the keeper behind you hears it!,' You do NOT go UNTIL I blow the whistle is that clear?) Get an affirmative YES, a grunt or a nod to indicate they heard you.
If they are obtuse or so emotionally charged they FORGET and jump the gun it is in my opinion at minimum USB, show the yellow card and retake.
If you saw the run up and kick occurring you could hit the whistle trying to stop the kick and then say that was the signal as the ball is saved or missed and only if the shot scored pull it back claiming you were not signaling the kick but trying to prevent it!
Integrity is a fickle commodity in earlier days you could claim you did signal, hand wave, mumbled go ahead, to cover this but without a clear whistle hard to escape the consequences!
Fair is Fair but LAW is LAW!

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Unfortunately, the kick must be taken. Before the current Interpretations to the current Laws Of The Game were published, the referee was only required to give a signal for the kick to proceed. If the kicker took the kick early and the keeper stopped it, it was easy to say the signal obviously had been given as the kick was taken. Now, referees are required to use the whistle. It's important for the referee to be very clear that the kick will not proceed until the whistle is blown. As unfair as it may seem, if the kicker tries to cheat by taking it early and either misses or the keeper stops it, the kick has to be retaken. If the kicker proceeds on his own anyway, he may be cautioned for unsporting behavior.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Alex, taking shots from the penalty mark in any circumstance must be signaled by a whistle. In your case there was no whistle hence the kick was premature and must be retaken without regard to what happened after the kick was taken. That's the Law.

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

See Question: 30089