Question Number: 35306

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 12/30/2023

RE: Adult

Malcolm Johnstone of Leyland, Lancs United Kingdom asks...

In the Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United match, today, one of the home players passed a ball directly back to his keeper. The keeper tried to clear the ball , but miss kicked it, pretty much straight up into the air. Under pressure from an opposition forward, he then caught the ball, playing up field from his hands. I'm fairly sure no other player touched the ball after the pass back.
Surely, this should have resulted in an indirect free kick to the attacking team. A keeper can't just kick the ball, from a deliberate pass back, then pick it up and play it, can he ?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for your question.

Within the last couple of seasons there was a law change to benefit goalkeepers here. Now, when a defender deliberately kicks the ball to the goalkeeper and the GK tries to kick the ball back upfield but mucks up the kick, they are allowed to handle the ball.

The reasoning is that the backpass law is there to prevent the GK from just being able to run down the clock with the ball in their hands, and IFAB have decided that if the GK has at least made an honest attempt to get rid of the ball, then they shouldn't suffer if that attempt didn't succeed.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Malcom
my colleague Ref Wright sums it up quite nicely. The conceptual reasoning of the IFAB?FIFA research and think tanks for creating the INDFK offence in the past was to stop the petulant and obvious wasting time by defenders and their keeper playing keep away, NOT to hinder their ability to do the job as keeper in preventing goals.

In the past it was initially thought ANY deliberately kicked ball towards the keeper or an area to where he might access it was considered as untouchable by the hands. It was refined in thinking to where it had to be intentionally and deliberately kicked solely to the keeper and if the ball on its way were to make even accidental contact with another player or opponent that restriction was no longer in effect!

It was also a contentious issue when defenders were challenging or tackling for the ball or suffered a miskick or deflection off the feet when redirecting a ball into or towards the keeper was not seen as INTENTIONALY directed TO the keeper despite it was a deliberate kicking /foot action. In effect it was kind of a gotcha myth issue they wished to dispel .

Often a keeper is hesitant to use the hands to play or pick up the ball inside the PA , perhaps FEARING a referee might make an INDFK call for using the hands on the ball BEFORE another player or opponent had an opportunity to play the ball

Knowing it could result in an INDFK call it was a reprieve of sorts when a non handling attempt to clear went poorly they were NOT punished to scramble or recover a ball in the action of making a save

For an example, you are correct in thinking the keeper can not go outside the PA, to recover a deliberately kicked ball by a team mate, dribble or kick the ball into his PA ,THEN pick it up. That stretches the ability of any referee with discretion to see it as oops versus a poor tactical choice with consquences. Such gotcha calls are reminiscent of keepers punting balls out of the PA, being accused of carrying the ball out as they toss it. The opposition has earned nothing so we should be careful about awarding a scoring option from a bad interpretation of law!
Cheers
Happy New Year!

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Malcolm,
Well actually, in the circumstances you have described, a goalkeeper is indeed allowed to pick up the ball. As my colleagues have pointed out, the law was changed a few years ago (in 2019) to allow the goalkeeper to pick up their own mis-kick or unsuccessful attempted clearance from a ball deliberately kicked to them by a teammate.

When this change was made, the IFAB gave the explanation for it as follows:

"When the GK clearly kicks or tries to kick the ball into play, this shows no intention to handle the ball so, if the ‘clearance’ attempt is unsuccessful, the goalkeeper can then handle the ball without committing an offence."

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Malcolm
I saw that incident in the game and it was not an offence due to the 2019 law change by IFAB as alluded to by my colleagues.
There were on field appeals for the IDFK yet the referee clearly knew that it was NOT an offençe under the amended so called *backpass law*.
Correct decision was made to play on.
Its good to learn something new every day.