Wrongly gave an indirect free kick?

[Aaron Aven]

Green v Blue. Blue team has a goal kick. Keeper kicks the ball to a player in his penalty area. So it's touched another player before leaving the penalty area. I gave an indirect free kick Knew it was the wrong decision after I gave it! No goals or advantage came from it! Just to confirm, did I make the wrong decision?

 

[Grug]

Ball is not in play until it leaves the penalty area, therefore it should have been a re-take.

 

[smair]

Should have been a retake. Just means you won't forget/brain fart again! Related to this issue, I booked a player for unsporting behaviour a while ago. As the ball was being passed to him from a goal kick it was apparent that an attacker was hot on his tail. Defender ran towards the penalty area and slid in, making contact with the ball just inside the area. He told me over and over it had to be a retake and I realised he had only kicked it inside the penalty area for tactical purposes, using the Laws to get himself out a tight spot, so I booked him for UB and ordered a retake of the goal kick. Was I right to do this?

 

[SM]

Nope. still just a retake.

 

[haywain]

Smair, your scenario got me thinking last night and again this morning.

My initial thought, like monkey's, was no booking, just a retake.

However it was the fact that he slid in to play the ball, which makes it less clear cut for me

As a one off perhaps a word with the player, or the coach if he's a young un, to applaud his intelligent use of a lotg but a reminder that, if he does it again, you might employ another lotg and caution him for delaying the restart.

 

[HarryD]

Circumventing LoTG perhaps? Thats what it sounds like to me!