Question Number: 27716

Law 13 - Free Kicks 9/1/2013

RE: Club Under 18

Gary Souza of Chino hills, California United States asks...

On a direct free kick set-up, the attacking team player requested 10 yards from the referee as it appeared the defenders were too close. The referee refused and said play. The kicker then walked off the ten steps, and showed the referee the defense was only 7 yards away. The referee gave the attacking player a yellow card, then marched off 10 yards from the defenders, and placed the ball backwards, three more yards. Is the referee correct in refusing to honor the request for ten by the attacking kicker? What about moving the ball further back in an effort to punish the attacking team?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The referee thought the defenders were far enough away. Mistaken, it turns out, but the referee's decisions on facts of play are final. When the player marched off his 10 yards, that was dissenting the referee's decision, and the caution was appropriate.

The ref should not have moved the ball back 3 yards, if it was placed in the correct spot to begin with. The restart is to take place from the site of the infraction.

So we have some problems on both sides here.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Gary
The players learned a valuable lesson here. The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are final. I watched a player being sent off at the weekend in the Scottish Premier League for denying a goal with his hand. The replay showed that the ball hit him on the head and the referee incorrectly judged that he used his hand. Despite the protestations of the player and his teammates the restart was a penalty kick and a red card.
The player in your scenario by stepping off yards dissented the referee's decision to restart play and that is a caution.
The free kick is always taken from the location of the infraction and the ball may not be moved from that location. The ball will be respotted if the referee is of the opinion that the ball has been placed incorrectly or moved by the kicking team from the point of the foul.
Sometimes a referee will use a visual estimate of 10 yards based on experience while other times the referee will step off 10 yards to move back defenders. Stepping always satisfies both teams.
Having said all the situation could have been avoided by better mechanics by the referee
I recall last season a player questioning 10 yards after I had moved the defenders back visually. The kicker complained and I walked across and I paced out the 10 yards and guess what? It was 10 paces. The defending team was quite happy in that this used up time as they were leading near the end of the game.
In this case if the referee believed that the free kick was being taken from the wrong location then he should have sorted that out first by moving the ball and then paced the 10 yards from the ball. Play could then have restarted without any fuss or the need for a caution.