A&H

Junior/Youth Kicking the ball away

Will Triffitt

Well-Known Member
Level 7 Referee
I've had this situation a couple of times this season but don't know if how I am acting is the correct way or not.
Example: Defender has the ball but is surrounded by attacking players. He has no options but to concede a throw-in. He does so but he kicks the ball a long way away or over a hedge and into a garden.
Every time this happens one team always complains about time wasting and kicking the ball away and asks me to caution the player. I say that I can't because when the ball was kicked it was in play and on the field of play. I do add on tend to add on time if it has gone a long way off or a new ball is needed. Is this the correct response or are you able to caution the player? It is clear that they are doing it deliberately but I have always been told that the ball has to be in play or the game is still playing (i.e. hasn't been stopped for a foul).
 
The Referee Store
Hmm, I've never come across this and would be interested to also hear other people's opinions on this.

The caution would be delaying the restart of play, but as the ball is still in play when he boots it it can'take be for this.

Maybe a USB other caution, but I'm not convinced this would be correct.
 
Yup, agree with @Padfoot ( :eek: ) . If you are adding on time for this then making this clear through your body movements ... half raise one arm and visibly doing "stuff" with your watch ... often calms down those complaining
 
Played in a cup final at a football league ground a few years back, 2-1 up with minutes to spare, guess where that ball went every time i had the opportunity? Yep, as far into one of the empty stands as my tired legs could get it. I think i even put one or two over the main stand. It was simply a over hit clearance of course ;);)
 
@Will Triffitt its the difference between consuming time and wasting time. In the same way that you are not going to penalise a keeper for not picking the ball up* (and forcing an opposition player to come to the ball), you wouldn't penalise for this - the player is consuming time. If the whistle had gone and he boots the ball in to the back of beyond, that's a different matter.

*unless he's dancing with the ball at his feet, obviously ;)
 
No offence, no added time either unless the match ball(s) are 'lost'.

If I feel that one team is deliberately sending the ball as far as away as possible in order to gain an advantage by the amount of time it takes their opponents to recover the ball and be able to restart play.....then I will, at my discretion, add time on in order to maintain a sense of fairness.

I believe this is covered by "spirit of the game"!
 
You cannot caution here, putting it in row Z (or the car park at grass roots) is a perfectly legitimate form of defending
 
I went to Southampton vs Norwich FA Cup replay last week as I fancied seeing a game, tickets were on general sale and relatively cheap (£12 adults/£5 kids), good job they were as the game itself was terrible.

Anyway, about 15/20 minutes from time, after a fairly dull and uneventful 70/75 minutes a similar situation occurred. Ball was about 6 inches from the line, Southampton player at walking pace with the ball close to his feet comes under a bit of pressure from Norwich attacker, so decides simply passing the ball out of play wasn't enough, so he launched it as high and far as he possible could into the empty stand along the side of the pitch, which resulted in the biggest cheer of the night. Took the ball boys a while to retrieve the ball!

If the ball is still in play when the player decides to launch it there's not a lot a referee can do, but as Padfoot said, nowt wrong with a referee adding on time to cover the amount of time it takes to retrieve the ball with perhaps a visual signal of pointing to your watch.
 
I went to Southampton vs Norwich FA Cup replay last week as I fancied seeing a game, tickets were on general sale and relatively cheap (£12 adults/£5 kids), good job they were as the game itself was terrible.

Anyway, about 15/20 minutes from time, after a fairly dull and uneventful 70/75 minutes a similar situation occurred. Ball was about 6 inches from the line, Southampton player at walking pace with the ball close to his feet comes under a bit of pressure from Norwich attacker, so decides simply passing the ball out of play wasn't enough, so he launched it as high and far as he possible could into the empty stand along the side of the pitch, which resulted in the biggest cheer of the night. Took the ball boys a while to retrieve the ball!

If the ball is still in play when the player decides to launch it there's not a lot a referee can do, but as Padfoot said, nowt wrong with a referee adding on time to cover the amount of time it takes to retrieve the ball with perhaps a visual signal of pointing to your watch.
But why would you?
Now at grass roots and players taking time to recover same ball, always add time and or threaten a caution.
 
As a counterpoint to the above answers - I remember one particular incident where a GK came wide to collect a ball that was hoofed down the wing. He got there ahead of the opposing attacker and tapped it just out of play, with his momentum carrying him out with it too. But as soon as he realised his opponent was still sprinting to get the ball, take a quick throw and catch him out of position, he booted it over the hedge.

On this occasion, I did get the cards out and cautioned him - and in a tight match he was perfectly happy to take the yellow rather than give away a very good chance at a goal. Now this seems to fit the definition of "delaying the restart" pretty perfectly to me. But the fact that he gets booked because he sent the ball miles away with his second touch and it would have been fine if he'd done it with his first does seem a tad inconsistent? Or was I wrong to book him?
 
Surely it is stoppage time? Isn't it down to the referee to decide what he can and can't add on?
The referee decides what counts towards stoppage time. To me its all part of the natural play and if you've been on some of our grass roots pitches, you'd understand why not to add it on........
 
As a counterpoint to the above answers - I remember one particular incident where a GK came wide to collect a ball that was hoofed down the wing. He got there ahead of the opposing attacker and tapped it just out of play, with his momentum carrying him out with it too. But as soon as he realised his opponent was still sprinting to get the ball, take a quick throw and catch him out of position, he booted it over the hedge.

On this occasion, I did get the cards out and cautioned him - and in a tight match he was perfectly happy to take the yellow rather than give away a very good chance at a goal. Now this seems to fit the definition of "delaying the restart" pretty perfectly to me. But the fact that he gets booked because he sent the ball miles away with his second touch and it would have been fine if he'd done it with his first does seem a tad inconsistent? Or was I wrong to book him?
If he kicks it miles away after the ball has gone out of play, then yes caution. If he kicks it miles away while still in play, then don't caution.
 
As a counterpoint to the above answers - I remember one particular incident where a GK came wide to collect a ball that was hoofed down the wing. He got there ahead of the opposing attacker and tapped it just out of play, with his momentum carrying him out with it too. But as soon as he realised his opponent was still sprinting to get the ball, take a quick throw and catch him out of position, he booted it over the hedge.

On this occasion, I did get the cards out and cautioned him - and in a tight match he was perfectly happy to take the yellow rather than give away a very good chance at a goal. Now this seems to fit the definition of "delaying the restart" pretty perfectly to me. But the fact that he gets booked because he sent the ball miles away with his second touch and it would have been fine if he'd done it with his first does seem a tad inconsistent? Or was I wrong to book him?

Playing devil's advocate though, would you have allowed play to restart with the keeper not on the pitch? And if not has he delayed the restart of play given it would have actually been you that delayed it?
 
Playing devil's advocate though, would you have allowed play to restart with the keeper not on the pitch? And if not has he delayed the restart of play given it would have actually been you that delayed it?

surely you cant restart with the keeper off the FOP in any case , as each team has to in law, have a goalkeeper... if he's not on the FOP he's effectively not part of the game?
 
surely you cant restart with the keeper off the FOP in any case , as each team has to in law, have a goalkeeper... if he's not on the FOP he's effectively not part of the game?
Hmmm. I think the laws generally differentiate between players leaving the FOP as part of a natural playing movement and being 'properly' off the FOP. As an example, if a GK ran back towards the goal line to keep a ball in play, succeeeded in doing so but ended up running slightly off the pitch, are we really going to disallow a goal scored by an opponent in those circumstances?!
 
Back
Top