A&H

Lifting ball with both feet

Viking

Well-Known Member
Some advice please. A player who is on the ground near the corner flag, lifts the ball between his feet and swivels in his backside to move the ball 180 degrees. In the back of my mind I seem to remember that's obstruction but then you can lift the ball with both feet for a free kick. Looking through the lotg I couldn't see this as an offence but I feel it should be. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?
 
The Referee Store
It depends...

If the ball gets stuck under a player or between the feet while they are lying or crawling - and there are other players trying to tackle - then the smart move is to give an IDFK against the prone player for PIADM (Playing In A Dangerous Manner), especially if they are keeping the ball there on purpose.

However, context, heat of the game, mentality of the players and the heat/timing/feel of a particular situation - make every situation different. If it looks like someone is about to get kicked in the head, blow your whistle. If you've got control of the game and confidence in the players, depending on what the physical action actually is, you might let play go on for a second or two to see if the ball comes out and you can play on.
 
Impossible to be impeding (the modern word for obstruction) as the ball is in playing distance.

As @santa sangria says, the potential offense is PIADM--did the player's action interfere with the ability of an opponent to play the ball because of the risk of kicking the player who was holding the ball between his legs? If an opponent is close, the answer is probably yes, and the proper call would then be an IFK for PIADM.
 
Thanks. He deliberately trapped the ball and made 2 x 180 degree movements. I gave IFK but for the wrong reason.
 
Some years ago, didn't Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt (both of Coventry City) take a free kick where Carr stood astride the ball and flicked it up between his feet and behind him for Hunt to volley it in. The goal stood but I think this was later banned as it was deemed that Carr had played the ball twice?
 
Some years ago, didn't Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt (both of Coventry City) take a free kick where Carr stood astride the ball and flicked it up between his feet and behind him for Hunt to volley it in. The goal stood but I think this was later banned as it was deemed that Carr had played the ball twice?
The free kick in question took place in October 1970. At the IFAB AGM in June 1971 it was agreed that the technique in question was not acceptable. The minutes of the meeting say that, "The Board accepted the view of the Scottish Football Association [that] the ball was not kicked in the accepted sense of the word, and for that reason the free kick was improperly taken."

As late as 1990, this was still the case. The FIFA Q&A for 1990 had the following:

Q. May a free−kick he taken by lifting the ball with both feet simultaneously?
A. No. It is not accepted that a free−kick is taken correctly if it is lifted with both feet.

That ruling was later reversed that to what we have now, where it is expressly permitted. The first time I can find where that was explicitly stated was in the FIFA Q&A in 2000, as follows:

Q. May a free kick be taken by lifting the ball with a foot or both feet simultaneously?
A. Yes. The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves.

It was then included in the Laws document in 2007 with the following wording:

A free kick can be taken by lifting the ball with a foot or both feet simultaneously.
 
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