Question Number: 5026

Law 14 - Penalty kick

john lydon of , asks...

During the taking of a penalty kick the referee allowed the .attacking team to line up outside of the penalty area but closer to the goal than the ball. The kick was taken and the keeper deflected the shot, then the player who was in the illegal position scored off the rebound. The referee signaled a goal but before he restarted the game he relized that the penalty kick was not properly taken and then disallowed the goal and restarted with a goal kick. The referee created a bad situation for himself but, did he do the correct thing?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I agree with Ref Marco, the kick was not fairly taken. In this case the referee did not ensure all players had taken up positions in accordance with the Law. In allowing the kick to proceed our hapless referee has erred. Not only that but he is not supported by Law in any subsequent action he chooses unless he retakes the kick. Ref Marco has chosen the most logical path, indirect free kick to the opponents of the kicking team as the infraction closely matches one described in Law 14...Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Fredrikssonk

The referee?s decision was correct. Yes the LOTG stipulates that the referee should wait to blew the signal until all player are lined up correctly, however after blowing the signal, no matter whether the players were lined up correctly or not, the referee should not intervene against players taking illegal positions until the penalty kick has been taken. In this case, the attacking player did stand to close. And as such, taking a rebound, the correct call is IFK for the defending team.