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 This question concerns fouls by the goalie after an offensive player has taken a kick inside the penalty area. The keeper in question dove for a ball about the 10 yard line. The ball was kicked and missed the goal, going over the end line. The keeper missed the ball, making contact with the offensive player and upending him. There was nothing violent about the contact; the goalie was simply late. My question is is this type of foul worth a PK? There was no chance of playing the ball again.
Thanks for your response.
Answer The call would depend on the details and your perception of them. I would have to ask myself the following questions:
- Did the keeper jump into the opponent?
- Was the keeper playing the ball or the opponent? If the opponent, better chance for a PK.
- Did the keeper jump straight up, which is legal, or into another player?
- Where were the keeper's eyes? If on the ball, probably more of a legal move, if on the player, probably an illegal move.
- What was the body language of the keeper during the jump? Did he try to make contact?
- What was the body language of the keeper after the jump? Did he act guilty? This would probably be the least of my considerations, but it could play a part.
- What was the age and level of the game? Was this U-10 boys who only played one game a week? Or was this a U-19 state cup contender with a high level of skill?
- What was the reaction of the opponent and the other players.
If the ball was over the end line when the contact was made, then you could not award a PK. The ball was Out of Play - no foul.
If the ball was out of play, you have to consider what would be best for the control of the match. You can't ignore it completely as this would hurt your credibility. You could take the keeper aside and talk to him away from the other players. If this keeper has been reckless during the game, possibly a yellow card would be in order.
Think of that yellow card, though, as "gold." Get something for giving it to someone. You need to get better control of the match. Don't waste it and don't trivialize it on undeserving situations. I found that telling the player to move his head up and down as if agreeing with what I was saying to him or he would be carded often worked well. It looked as if the keeper was buying into what I was saying, I was addressing the situation, and the keeper got out of a card. Win - win.
And you have 1 or 2 seconds to consider all of this before you decide what to do. That's why you get the big bucks! :-)
Hope this helps and hope you have fun on the pitch.
