Question Number: 22658

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 12/19/2009

RE: rec, select, high school, adult Other

Bill Dailey of Feasterville, PA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 21501

I've always had an issue with the 'forward' bit. Soccer is not a one way sport like US Football or bowling. Forward to me ( as a player, nationally licensed coach, and ref, and close follower of the game internationally all spanning 35 years) simply means in the direction the player with the ball is facing. The laws do not state ' in the direction of the attack goal or into the opposing teams' half. Too me many (especially coaches/parents) that start screaming 'it didn't move forward' when it is passed 1 yd. to a teammate on or slightly behind the midfield line (only to pass it to a midfielder or defender) are just simply ridiculous. It has no effect on the game! Now, if an attacking player heels passes to a midfielder or is completely on the other half passing it 'forward' towards a midfielder, that's a different story.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Hi Bill. Do you have a question?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Generally speaking the laws of the game are written quite poorly - this is part of the sacrifice when the laws were designed to make them less verbose.

As such, we need to consider the spirit of the laws, or the intent. 'Forward' refers to direction of play.

For instance, 'forward' is also mentioned at a penalty kick - here it obviously refers to direction of play, not direction the player is facing.

By 'direction of play' I mean direction that the team is attacking in.

'Forward' is simply a more convenient way of saying 'in the direction of the goal line of the opposing team'.

. It's a simple law, and if the referee allows this one to be broken then he may create futher problems for himself later on - particularly as, if it's broken once, players will usually continue to pass backwards from the kickoff. Then, when he finally says 'enough', he looks inconsistent.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 8 says, 'the ball is in play when it is kicked and moves forward.' It is clear from the context that forward relates to the ball, not to the player. Likewise in Law 14 for taking a penalty kick.

I personally see no reason why 'forward' needs to remain in the Laws for kickoffs, and perhaps not even for PK's. But it's there, so I will observe it, within the limits of trifling of course.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Having an issue with it doesn't mean the Laws don't still require it. Law 8 clearly says the ball is in play when it is kicked and moves forward.

For simplicity's sake, forward is the opposite of backward, so if the ball didn't go backward, it had to go forward - which is the view of 99.999% of the world's referees, I imagine - yourself and myself included.

In other words, nobody much bothers with recalling a kickoff that goes anywhere but back into half of the team kicking the ball. Everything else is 'forward' by definition and practice.

Ah, and when we start listening to instructions from parents and coaches to do our jobs, we're sunk anyway. As it is, we're never more than half right, and taking instructions from anyone other than a neutral AR means we are never right!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Bill
The Law does not mention direction on restarts such as a free kick, corner kick, goal kick. Where it does mention direction there is a purpose and a history behind that. If one looks at the laws they are steeped in over 100 years of history and changes. If you are familiar with rugby football the ball is kicked forward into the opposing half over ten yards so that both team challenge for the ball. Indeed American Football has this kick off. So historically on a kick off the ball had to be kicked forward into the other half to allow a challenge for the ball. Over the years that has changed to the now familiar short kick forward. Whether it makes any difference is another matter and the law cannot cover every single eventuality at a kick off. So it is left that the ball must move forward so as to allow some prospect of challenge for the ball and to bring some order to this.
Many referees if it is close to forward will allow play to continue as it is trifling. If it is clearly not done properly the referee has the power to deal with it according to the laws.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Why would heeling it back to a teammate make any difference to you since you clearly think the requirement that the ball be kicked forwards should be ignored? Forwards or forward is not a difficult word to understand. Forward certainly doesn't mean ' simply means in the direction the player with the ball is facing.' If that were true, than at the taking of a kick -off or penalty kick, the kicker could turn around and kick the ball backwards as the Law considers 'forward' but would have travelled forward by your definition.
Forward in LOTG simply means going in the direction of the opposing goal. That is to say, not sideways or backwards.
This is mentioned only twice in the LOTG; kick-off and penalty kick. While you may deem it trifling if the ball does not move forward at a kick-off, it's never trifling at a penalty kick.