Hi everyone, I just wanted to ask if you could let me know the rule on goalkeepers drop kicking the ball? I always see keepers push it to the limit and get very close to being outside of the box, but rarely see any free kicks for it. I had a situation today where a keeper was clearly out of the box when he still had the ball in his hands and I gave an indirect free kick for that. Since I can't find anything in LOTG on this area , just wondering what your thoughts are?
Goalkeeper drop kick
- Thread starter Iva617
- Start date
If the goalkeeper commits a handling offence outside the penalty area then a direct free kick is awarded as they are treated the same as any other player.
This would include if they handle outside the penalty area while releasing the ball.
This would include if they handle outside the penalty area while releasing the ball.
Exactly what @CaptainsPlease said!!
The relevant part of the LOTG is in Law 12:
A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences:
- a handball offence (except for the goalkeeper within their penalty area)
As the goalkeeper is no longer in their penalty area, the exception doesn't apply.
The relevant part of the LOTG is in Law 12:
A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences:
- a handball offence (except for the goalkeeper within their penalty area)
As the goalkeeper is no longer in their penalty area, the exception doesn't apply.
Keeping a low profile, means we will not give a direct free kick for a GK drop kick even when we suspect it is close.
Very often GK will throw the ball in the air, so although their point of contact with boot can be outside the PA it has long left their hand.
Was there any player reaction expecting a hand ball?
Very often GK will throw the ball in the air, so although their point of contact with boot can be outside the PA it has long left their hand.
Was there any player reaction expecting a hand ball?
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
The important thing is whether the goalkeeper's hand/s touched the ball outside the penalty area. If so, a direct free kick for handball.
socal lurker
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Unless it is really, really blatant, the only way this can be called is with NARs who would be line up on the PA line. Other than that, the optics can be very misleading. As stated above, the key is where the ball left the GK’s hand, not where it is kicked. And the game isn’t looking for tricky tack calls on this. (More often than not, when I have seen this call made, it is wrong because the R or AR isn’t watching the right thing. When I coached youth, I told them not to get close, as it just gives the refs a chance to make a mistake while it isn’t much advantage to get that close. My son finally listened to me when he got called twice, both clearly incorrect, in the same game…and nope, I didn’t say a ward to the refs about the bad calls)
Often when this gets appealed for the keeper lands well outside of the penalty area but has released the ball from his hand before leaving the area. As has been said, there's no way you can credibly spot this on your own, and even with NARs you don't want them monitoring every drop kick as their priority has to be to be in place for any subsequent offside decision.
The best, or worst, example was Bolton vs Liverpool in 2006 when Andy Halliday flagged Pepe Reina as having handled a drop kick outside of the area. Bolton scored from the free kick, replays showed that Reina had released the ball before leaving the area, and Andy was banished from the Premier League for a lengthy period. I was 4th official to him on a Premier League Reserves game not long after it happened, he said that he was 100% sure at the time that Reina was well outside, so shows how easy it is to misjudge this when a hugely experienced SG1 assistant gets it wrong.
The best, or worst, example was Bolton vs Liverpool in 2006 when Andy Halliday flagged Pepe Reina as having handled a drop kick outside of the area. Bolton scored from the free kick, replays showed that Reina had released the ball before leaving the area, and Andy was banished from the Premier League for a lengthy period. I was 4th official to him on a Premier League Reserves game not long after it happened, he said that he was 100% sure at the time that Reina was well outside, so shows how easy it is to misjudge this when a hugely experienced SG1 assistant gets it wrong.
My NAR flagged for this last week FA Youth Cup Q3
Rather than humiliate my flagman, I gave the FK on the edge of the PA and rolled with it. The players were just nippers so the GK and defenders barely muttered any complaint and it was the away team so the home spectators were bang up for it! Quite funny really, ball in open play up the other end of the FOP, I look over and think 'what the hell is he flagging for'? I just said to him (a new L4) afterwards, you probably don't wanna be doing that again with your Contrib Appointments as your L3s may be less enthusiastic about it than I was
Rather than humiliate my flagman, I gave the FK on the edge of the PA and rolled with it. The players were just nippers so the GK and defenders barely muttered any complaint and it was the away team so the home spectators were bang up for it! Quite funny really, ball in open play up the other end of the FOP, I look over and think 'what the hell is he flagging for'? I just said to him (a new L4) afterwards, you probably don't wanna be doing that again with your Contrib Appointments as your L3s may be less enthusiastic about it than I was
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I waved a NAR twice in the first half of a game on this in a 14U game. After the first one, I cheated up to be sure I could see clearly, and definitely wasn’t an offense I talked to him at halftime, and he had “learned ” that he was supposed to watch the plant foot anf flag if that was outside the PA.
Runner Ref
Well-Known Member
If you think he took it outside the box and no one appeals, it didn’t happen
If it happens a second time, make the goalkeeper aware he/she is very borderline.
3rd times a charm- flag it as they ain’t learning
I don't agree with ultra-safe refereeing. It tends to draw equivalence with ultra-bad refereeing. So I'm not against refereeing the drop kick just to stay safe. However, I'm not a fan of refereeing triviality either, and the drop kick is much like a foul throw. Just a means to get the game going again. Minor infarctions gain almost no advantage, so I'm not interested in it for THAT reason
Whilst some observers are very interested in triviality, none are interested in the drop kick unless of course GK is on the half way line and match control is wavering. My match control is usually shot to bits for a whole host of other reasons so drop kick is bottom of the pile
My pre-match (like my warm-up) is not an onerous experience. Hence we don't go there cos if you don't know the expectation on drop kicks, I'm in for an exciting night anyway
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Agree, and the other point I would say on this is the drop kick is dying out. When I first started refereeing at step 5 almost every ball from the keeper was played long, these days that is much less likely to happen and the keeper often plays it short, whether from hand or foot. So if drop kicks were worth covering in the pre-match 10 years ago, and I only very briefly touched on them, I'd say they are largely an irrelevance now.
Even grass roots teams are trying to play out from the back now, often with comical results.
Yes, pretty much every single opposition player and coach picked on it as soon as it happened. But it was very obvious that the keeper was out when handling the ball, so the reactions were not surprising.
This is never a good barometer in my experience.
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It’s a bit like OS. Opponents aren’t watching where he released the ball, but noticing where he was when he kicked it. Just like parents aren’t watching where opponents were when the ball is kicked, but are outraged because they see where the opponent is when he gets the ball.