Question Number: 26802

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 9/19/2012

RE: Freshman Girls High School

Ron Woodruff of Cincinnati, Oh United States asks...

I'm not sure if I got the restart on this one correct. Original call was for tripping, so we have DFK. As the attacker makes her approach the kick the ball, a defender also decides to run toward the ball. I wait to see what happens and sure enough the ball hits the defender right in the chest.

I blew the whistle and gave the defender a yellow card for Failure to Respect Distance. Do we then re-take the DFK or is it an IFK for the yellow card? I chose the latter because the ball was in play, but it doesn't seem right to take away the DFK.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ron
As the offence happened before the ball was in play the restart of the DFK does not change unless of the course the encroaching player commits a more serious offence such as deliberate handling in which case that offence can be called.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The encroaching occurred before the ball was put into play, meaning the offence occurred while the ball was out of play (even though you didn't have the chance to deal with it until a few moments after the ball was put into play).

This means the restart is simply to retake the original restart from the same location as the original kick.