Question Number: 23415

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 6/3/2010

RE: gold Under 15

leigh bacon of vancouver, bc canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 23383

A ref gave us a penalty as the other teams
goalie handled outside the box.His reason for giving it was that the goalie was the last man.I did not agree(although happy for the pen :)...)if anything I thought it was a direct kick to us and kid gets sent off for being last man?
what are your thoughts?

Leigh

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Disturbingly, I also once had a penalty awarded against my team for the same offence.

As the offence of deliberate handling has occurred outside the penalty area, how on earth can it possibly be a penalty kick? A penalty kick is only awarded when the defending team commits a direct free kick offence inside their own penalty area.

The penalty was incorrect in law - and massive, inexcusable errors like this can potentially lead to matches getting replayed.

As to whether the goalkeeper should have been sent off, that would depend if the referee thought that he was guilty of denying an obvious goal or goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball - in a nutshell, if it was a shot directly on goal, or he robbed the attacking team of possession who were heading straight for goal (depending on control, proximity of defenders, and so forth). If not, a caution is still an option but certainly not required.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Leigh
This I suspect is a referee making up his/her own laws to probably suit the situation. The correct restart is a direct free kick from where the goalkeeper deliberately handled the ball outside the penalty area. If while committing this deliberate handling offence the goalkeeper also denied the opponents an obvious goal scoring opportunity she is dismissed. Not all deliberate handling by the GK is a dismissal in these situations and the referee has to assess if the conditions referred to as the 4 Ds are present. Examples of where a GK is not dismissed include deliberately handling a deliberate kick by a team mate to the GK , no opponent present, offence happens towards the corner flag areas etc.
I suspect that the referee here decided that a penalty was a 'more appropriate' decision rather than the DFK and the dismissal. Totally wrong in Law and a decision that can be protested successfully.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Leigh, I can't believe this happened in Vancouver, where I am! Hmmm, PKs are for one of the ten fouls punishable by a direct free kick that happens in the penalty area of the defensive team. Well, the ref needs to read the Laws of the Game! He simply got it wrong.
The kid does not get sent off for 'last man'. If all the conditions are met, he would be sent off for DOGSO: denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Let me know what this game was and I will try to help this ref: gene@nagy.com

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This absolutely is inexcusable!! ANY referee should know you can NEVER, EVER, NO WAY, NO HOW award a penalty kick for ANY keeper handling violation . A penalty kick is only awarded when one of the 10 direct free kick fouls is committed by a player INSIDE his penalty area. In your question, the keeper is outside the penalty area so it's impossible to have a pk awarded. All keeper handling infractions inside the penalty area are punished by ordering an indirect free kick. Since you are Canadian, if the keeper was the last man than it's possible he could be sent off for DOGSOH. In the US, unless the referee believes but for the illegal handling the ball would have certainly gone into the net no send off is possible