AboutJohn Cummings Expertise Do you have a call made by the referee in last week`s match puzzling you? Are you a referee who may not be certain that what was done was the right thing to do? I shall be glad to entertain any questions about officiating soccer. The more the players, coaches and supporters understand the referee and his/her decisions, the more fun we can have on the pitch.
Experience After coaching my son's travel team, I have been USSF State Referee, State Assessor, Assignor and State Instructor in addition to having been a college NISOA referee,a NISOA clinician, a NISOA assessor and a high school referee.
Question In a game today, the opposing goalkeeper lost control of the ball and then picked it back up and punted. No penalty was called. He had fielded the ball in the box and there was no one around him. He just managed to drop it causing it to hit his leg and go about 5 yards. He ran and picked it back up and then punted the ball. He had obviously lost control of the ball prior to picking it up. I thought this constituted "releasing the ball into play" and as such the keeper could not touch the ball again. The ref disagreed.
Answer The current interpretation that I have gotten is that the "release" is a willful, voluntary action. It implies control of the ball and the keeper's actions in releasing the ball. Accidental dropping of the ball is not seen as a release, and therefore, picking it up again is not a foul.
Think of a prisoner in jail. The release of that prisoner is entirely different than the escape of the prisoner. In the release, all is legal, while in the escape, he has violated the law.
For soccer, the escape of the ball from the control of the keeper allows the keeper to pick up the ball legally while the intentional release allows the ball to be played by anyone but the keeper. As you noted, if the keeper does touch it before another player touches the ball, it is an indirect free kick.
Hope this helps and hope you have fun on the pitch.
