Question Number: 62

Law 11 - Offside 11/17/1999

RE: High School

Vic Trapani of Englewood, Ohio USA asks...

During a recent game, an offside was called. The freekick took place inside the defensive teams penalty area. The kick did not clear the penalty area before the offensive touched the ball. The ref stop the game and gave the defensive team another kick. A parent who was from our team (and is a High school ref) starting yelling at the ref and said that was a bad call. I told the parent that I thought that any kick by the defensive team inside the penalty area had to clear the the area before it can be played. Was I right?

Answer provided by Referee miller 11/18/1999

Yes, you are right. Law 13 states that any free kick taken by the defenders from inside their penalty area must clear the penalty area before it's in play..Good for you for picking up on that.

Answer provided by Referee Stacy Kalstrom 11/19/1999

You are absolutely correct...This is also a good time to make the point that even referees need to continually brush up on the laws of the game. Being a referee is a constant learning process. ..I distinctly remember the game when I was the referee and my assistant (linesman in those days) raised their flag and told me the ball on a freekick had not cleared the penalty area. I was confused but went with the call because I trusted my assistant. After the game we discussed the call and looked it up in the book. There it was in black and white. ..Every game presents with the opportunity to learn, we will become better referees only if we take these opportunities and use them. Hopefully the high school referee that you mentioned went home and looked in his book.

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