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Mini Soccer / Under 10's

Rob

Rob

Member
Level 9 Referee
I referee my lads U10'S home fixtures which is how I got involved into refereeing. Now more recently I have pulled up both teams for foul throws and given the player the benefit of the doubt and allowed a retake but if they foul throw again I pass in on to the opposition. I am now looking at the back pass rule , do I enforce it or wait till they get older ?, plus there is no 6 yard penalty area on mini soccer which may well add confusion from where an IDFK is to be taken if the GK handles a back pass on or near to his goal line , any suggestions / advice would be much appreciated please.
 
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The official FA laws of mini-soccer specifically say:
"Furthermore, referees should also recognise their role is to facilitate learning of the players, for example, allow young children to take a second attempt at a throw-in if the first is not within the Laws." so you are 100% correct to allow a second go at a throw.

I think that back passes are slightly different as they are offences during play rather than at the restart even though they are quite "technical". I would certainly remind the keeper not to pick the ball up but would probably still penalise at U10 - may be give the keeper a chance at younger ages. I would also be super-lenient on the application of "deliberate kick to" so anything that might be interpreted as a kick to another team-mate that the keeper just leaps on, I would let go (with advice where possible).

Mini soccer should have an 18 yards by 10 yards penalty area and IDFKs should be taken from the edge of this area parallel to the goal line (so 10 yards from the goal line)
 
Thanks McTavish . I haven't encountered any back passes as yet but I would like to implement the ruling for them as the kids at some point have to come to terms with all the Laws involved. Some coaches are not keen on their players getting pulled up for foul throws but like I said at some point in their footballing careers they have to learn. Cheers again :)
 
Rob said:
I referee my lads U10'S home fixtures which is how I got involved into refereeing. Now more recently I have pulled up both teams for foul throws and given the player the benefit of the doubt and allowed a retake but if they foul throw again I pass in on to the opposition. I am now looking at the back pass rule , do I enforce it or wait till they get older ?, plus there is no 6 yard penalty area on mini soccer which may well add confusion from where an IDFK is to be taken if the GK handles a back pass on or near to his goal line , any suggestions / advice would be much appreciated please.
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There should be league rules about back passes - I know my league does anyway
 
I would have to double-check but have a recollection that there are no IDFK's at mini-soccer. Any IDFK offence within the penalty area are then taken from the edge of the area in line with where the offence took place, as @McTavish said (so PIADM would be treated the same), but as a DFK.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
There shouldn't be "league" rules. The FA have issued a standard set of Laws for mini-soccer and they should be used at all times without amendment by individual leagues
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Ok perhaps there 'shouldn't' be, but for the 10 years I've been playing + refereeing football in my area they've always said 'back passes allowed U10 and below' etc
 
Interesting.

I remember when I was refereeing at this age - U/10 was on the full sized field, so aside from short corners and goal kicks, full rules. No TI retakes, etc.

U/8 and U/9 were on a small pitch. I think all free kicks were IFK, anything inside the PA brought out to the edge. Offsides in U/9. This was different in each area.

Now there are nationally standardised rules, u/6-7, u/8-9, u/10-11

http://www.myfootballclub.com.au/index.php?id=65

Not sure what the rules are - it's in the back of the local version of the LOTG.
 
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