Question Number: 23728

Kicks From The Penalty mark 8/1/2010

RE: Rec, Competive Under 12

David Smith of South St.Paul, Minnesota U.S asks...

When in a shoot out and taking PK to determine a winner. A player went to the ball kicked it wide of the net. The ref did not blow his whistle to give permisson for the shot. Does the player get to rekick the ball. Thus giving the kicker a warm up shot on the goalie. Then a second shot.

Thanks

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
The player must wait for the referee to signal for the kick to be taken. If the kick is taken before the signal it must be retaken.
My advice to goalkeepers is to get on the line, be prepared and as soon as the ball is placed I will signal for the PK to be taken. Good mechanics by the referee and the GK being prepared solves the problem. I watch too many GK trying to play mind games, coming off the line, delaying the kick which should also be dealt with. I was happy to see the referee caution the England GK in the European U 21 final for this behaviour. He missed the final as a result of his unsporting actions. If any kick had been taken without the whistle here it would also be retaken. A coach won't be too happy if the GK is not ready and the ball is kicked past him on a PK without a signal.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

We used to be able to fudge this by reasoning, 'Well, the player must have seen my signal or he wouldn't have taken his shot. Therefore I must have signalled.' That got us away from giving 'two bites of the apple'.

But last year IFAB mandated that the signal must be a whistle. We can't credibly claim that the player must have heard a whistle that didn't sound. So now we have to allow a retake of the kick.

If there are a rash of these early kicks, the referee should consider a caution for delay.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The kick is always retaken if the kicker does not wait for the referee's whistle before taking a penalty kick (or in kicks from the penalty mark).

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

If the referee observes the player starting his run-up to the ball before the whistle to begin sounds, she can hit the whistle with a series of short tweet-tweet-tweets which cannot be confused with this start whistle, very loudly, and remind the player they may ONLY start when the whistle to begin is blown.

Failing that, the kick must be retaken. Further 'errors' by this player should earn a caution for delaying the restart.