Question Number: 23890

Law 14 - Penalty kick 9/9/2010

RE: Adult

Michael Ball of Newport, United Kingdom asks...

The ref blows the whistle for a penalty kick to be taken, a member of the defending team runs up and takes the penalty and scores past his own keeper? What is the decision?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

This is a very interesting scenario. Hopefully it is hypothetical. I can't imagine someone doing that.

By the letter of the Law, I might consider counting the goal. Let's look at what happened:
-- Who infringed? A teammate of the goalkeeper.
-- What was the result? A ball in the goal.
-- What does the checklist under Infringements in Law 14 tell us to do? Goal counts.

As tempting as it is to punish this idiot's team by allowing the goal, it doesn't seem right. Law 14 says that after the referee gives the signal and a teammate infringes 'the referee allows the kick to be taken'. The question is whether or not this kick has been taken. Can someone other than the designated kicker 'take' the kick? I would argue not, especially if that someone else is on the other team.

So my decision would be to caution the perpetrator (take your pick: delaying the restart, not respecting the distance, unsporting behavior) and reset for the proper penalty kick to be taken.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Michael
Its not going to happen so it is just a hypothetical question. The Law does not make provision for 'unusual' situations and the referee uses Law 18 (common sense) to make a decision in the absence of a ruling.
In my opinion the 'best' decision is to caution the defender for his action and restart with the penalty taken by the identified penalty taker.
While it might be possible for the goal to be allowed, to do so will cause all sorts of match control issues for the referee plus it may be questioned by the defending team as an improperly taken penalty kick in line with Law 14. It also could be a disgruntled player with his team and to award a goal would be 'unfair' on the GK as he may not have made any effort to save the kick.
Also the success rate on PK is around 80+ % so the attacking team will fancy its chances of scoring the penalty anyway when it is taken.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Since a penalty kick is awarded AGAINST the team that commits one of the direct free kick fouls inside their own penalty area, the kick must be taken by a member of the opposing team.