Question Number: 34697

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/9/2022

RE: Rec Under 15

Trent Futrell of Knoxville, Tennessee United States asks...

I have two questions that I wanted clarification on.

1. Had a keeper punt the ball. The ball hits their own teammate who was in the way. Can the keeper pick up the ball and punt it again?

2. Red team is attacking. There is a red player is in an offside position. Red attacker shoots at goal. Blue defender goes for the ball but it deflects off them (never had control) and then hits the red player in an offside position, which then deflects off them (they also never got control) and into the goal. Should the goal be allowed?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Trent
Thanks for the question
1. The law has been updated in respect of this offence. While not exactly the same it now states that it is no longer an offence if the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hand/arm when the ball has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play. The punt was a release into play unlike a situation where the goalkeeper throws the ball to ground to kick the ball. So in this situation as described which was a release into play there is no offence.

2. This is offside as the touch by Blue did not reset offside as it was a deflection. The touch by the Red PIOP even if it was accidental still completes an offside offence.
An example of the extreme of this situation is that say the PIOP was laying on the ground with no knowledge of the ball location and the ball hits the PIOP from a play by team mate it will be called offside.
The reason is that Law 11 wording states and I quote “ interfering with play by playing or touching a ball”. The touch can be accidental or inadvertent and does not need to be deliberate.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Trent,

1) Once the ball touches another player they keeper can pick it up again. Now, if the referee was certain this was a trick to circumvent the law, then a caution could be issued....probably to the GK as the initiator. But it would need to be painfully obvious to consider this - if you have doubts, just a shout to 'let's go keeper!' should do the trick

2) Control - or rather, reasonably anticipated opportunity for control - is relevant for the defender but not the attacker. An attacker could be lying on the ground injured, and if the ball strikes them, it's an offside offence. This goal should not be allwoed.

It isn't necessarily if the defender gains control - it's whether we'd reasonably expect them to have gained control, given the angle and pace of the ball, even the height (especially for a header). If they should have been able to control it, but didn't, then it still nullifies offside - however, we're going to be more generous to the defender at this younger age. Having said that, if the ball they're attempting to intercept is a shot going at or near goal, then control doesn't matter - even a misplay will be an offside offence.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Trent,
Yes the keeper is permitted to rehandle the ball as the keeper has not committed a double touch. The keepers' job is to stop the ball from entering the goal. The few restrictions on his handling have more to do with timewasting than preventing a scoring opportunity because of a accidental miskick . The LOTG were tweaked to ensure fewer gotcha scenarios.

What you described is designated as gaining an advantage from being in an offside position so no goal is going to be given. If ITOOTR the ball is considered to be a deflection off a defender, inadvertently stopping a pass or intercepting a shot it is NOT considered as a deliberate action thus there is no reset of any current opposition PIOP's restriction.

The fact that OFFSIDE POSITION is established by virtue of a team mate touch does not automatically make it a subsequent INVOLVEMENT participation on a deflection even if it determines that BOTH teams COULD in theory have PIOPS restricted at the same time!

Weird as it sounds while a defenders -deflection of the ball - does not reset the oppositions' PIOP restriction, that actual accidental or involuntary reactive touch of the ball by that defender determines if any of their defending teammate in an offside position become PIOPs themselves . Granted it's a black hole event but it is possible.

#13 Blue player inside red PA looses shoe so sits down to tie it up.
All red players push out to center midline.
#7 Red striker starts their run inside blue half as blue team also is pushing up to the midline. Red teammate tries to smash a long ball into his path but it accidently strikes a blue defender on his hip running to defend the striker and the ball deflects/rebounds back into the red half along the touchline. The #7 red striker realized he needed to retreat runs into his own half in pursuit of that deflected ball where as the #13 Blue player way back in the top corner of the PA also makes a run for that same ball. This assumes no other of the 20 players are participating lol. So who gets there first might decide who gets the INDFK restart But what if a tie?? lol Cheers