Question Number: 26344

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/17/2012

EP of State College, USA asks...

Red is awarded a direct free kick and a Red player intends to restart quickly to take advantage of Blue's disarray. A Blue player then hovers a yard from the ball in an intentional bid to delay the restart in order to allow her team to regroup. Fair or foul? Does it matter if the Blue player is already in the vicinity of the ball compared to deliberately moving close to the ball to impede the free kick?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The laws are clear: the defense has an obligation on a free kick to be at least ten yards from the ball. The failure to do so is misconduct for which a yellow card may be shown.

But, the referee should not be too quick to interfere with the attacking team's right to take a quick free kick. Some set plays rely on a defender being close to the ball and takes advantage of defenses lulled into the belief that there must be a whistle. A goal for the kicking team is better than a yellow card to an opponent.

Early in the match, however, the referee has the opportunity to use voice and presence to send the message that the attacking team will get both of its rights: the right to ten yards and the right to a quick free kick. Then, the referee should watch and see.

If the attacking team wants a quick free kick, the referee should not interrupt absent a compelling reason to do so. If the attacking team asks for ten yards, the referee should hold up the kick and enforce the distance. If a defender does something (moves toward the ball, kicks it, etc) that actually interferes with the taking of the free kick, the referee should caution and show the yellow card.

Sometimes the referee needs to go straight to a yellow card. The skills of the players and the nature of the match will usually indicate when immediate punishment works better than being proactive.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
One of the scourges of modern soccer with players preventing the quick restart by standing in front of the ball. The team that has fouled has no right to do this.
If a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is near the ball deliberately prevents him taking the kick, the referee must caution the player for delaying the restart of play.
Now the other side of that is where a player decides to take a free kick quickly and an opponent who is less than 10 yds from the ball intercepts it, the referee must allow play to continue. That is reasonably rare with the more likely situation of a player running in front of the ball to unfairly prevent the restart so that his team can regroup.
So the referee has to be proactive here and to ensure from an early point in the game that he is not going to tolerate this. Unfortunately because it is so common at the highest level many players don't even think that it is wrong and a cautionable offence. Most player are coached to do it so it is a constant battle between players and officials to ensure that it is does not happen.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Like many other referees, I have lost all patience when it comes to this tactic. It's especially disconcerting at lower levels of play as the coaches are teaching it.I remember a U12 Rec Boys match I worked about 5 years ago. The Red team had been awarded a DFK and a White player ran up to the ball and prevented the Red team from taking a kick. I went to a straight yellow card and the coach almost ended up in the parking lot insisting his team had the right to regroup or form a wall and the kicking team had to ask for the 10 yards.

At that level of play the coaches are often ignorant of the Laws and I foolishly decided to have a teaching moment with this coach. My mistake. One I never repeated.

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

See Question: 26382