Today, I witnessed something that I've never ever seen in my 15 years of playing and watching football. I play 11 a side in the Barnsley Sunday league. Midway through the second half, a long ball that ended up some 25 yards out from our goal, was mis-kicked back towards me in the goals (I'm the goalkeeper btw). One of our defenders was closest to the ball, and he stooped low to head the ball back to me in the nets, which I picked up without any thought. The referee, blew his whistle and gave an indirect free kick. We complained, saying that our defender had HEADED the ball back to me in the goal. He acknowledged that, but claimed that "trickery" had come into play, and that our defender had "attempted to circumvent the law by means of trickery" to which a caution and an indirect free kick was awarded. Never before have I EVER seen this happen. As anyone else ever seen this? We won 1-0 by the way, so all ended positively. But that was just bizarre. It may be that it IS an actual law, but how many times does this get pulled up?
Is Redref about I am almost certain that the ref has got that wrong The rule allows heading and chesting the ball back to the keeper. I dont remember any additional rule that states the ball must be over a certain height before it is headed back I might try and find the rule if I can be bothered
Yeah, cheers mate. He was an offical ref too. It was bizarre, never seen anything like it. I have found this, but I'm still unsure: "Subject to the terms of Law 12, a player may pass the ball to his own goalkeeper using his head or chest or knee, etc. If, however, in the opinion of the referee, a player uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play in order to circumvent the Law, the player is guilty of unsporting behavior. He is cautioned, shown the yellow card and an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team from the place where the infringement occurred. * (see page 3) A player using a deliberate trick to circumvent the Law while he is taking a free kick is cautioned for unsporting behavior and shown the yellow card. The free kick is retaken. In such circumstances, it is irrelevant whether the goalkeeper subsequently touches the ball with his hands or not. The offense is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of Law 12."
Found this too: When speaking of trickery in playing the ball toward the goalkeeper, we normally think of this as occurring during restarts, not during dynamic play. A player who goes down on hands and knees to head the ball during dynamic play is not committing trickery. With that point established, consider our response of August 29, 2007, to another question on trickery: “When considering the possibility of trickery, the referee must decide if the action was natural (a normal sort of play, the sort of thing you would see in any sequence of play) or contrived (an artificial, unnatural play, which, in the referee’s opinion, is intended solely for the purpose of circumventing the Law and preventing the opponents from challenging for the ball). “The call is always in the opinion and at the discretion of the referee, who is the only person capable of making the judgment as to the nature of the kick. If there is any doubt in the referee’s mind as to the nature of the play, then common sense should prevail. Unless the referee believes plays like this to be trickery, there is no need to make a call.” Consider also that the goalkeeper infringes the Law by handling a throw-in only if it has come directly to him or her from a throw-in taken by a teammate.
Still Think you ref has got it wrong I did a bit of digging in the official rules looks like you did as well Rule 12 is fairly clear the offence the actual act forbidden is deliberately kicking the ball back to the keeper However the guidence further down states • uses a deliberate trick while the ball is in play to pass the ball to his own goalkeeper with his head, chest, knee etc. in order to circumvent the Law, irrespective of whether the goalkeeper touches the ball with his hands or not. The offence is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of Law 12 and play is restarted with an indirect free kick • uses a deliberate trick to pass the ball to his own goalkeeper to circumvent the Law while he is taking a free kick (after the player is cautioned, the free kick must be retaken) I cant find the source of your further guidance. A really dumb ref could decide that any backpass of the head chest etc when the previous player was on your side as trickery - you colluded to make a trick to get round the rule, but my view is that the trickery is if you are in control of the ball and then so you can pass it back flip it onto your own head - not that you cant kneel down to head a ball back to the keeper
I remeber Steve Foster dropping to his knee's... a couple of months ago in order to head the ball back to Muller, wouldn't this be the same thing? He didn't ge pulled up over it, nor did anyone complain about it. What a stupid rule that is.
Thats because its allowed what isnt allowed are "tricks" to get round the rule - eg bouncing the ball on your foot a couple of times to kick it high enough to head back.
ahh, got yer nah, wasn't really sure what you meant when you were speaking of trickery to avoid the rule, i get it now. Well i can't see why picking the ball up in that instance would infringe that rule.
i'm a ref and i'm a sunday league ref and find that one a bit strange, i thin you just let it go cos its been passed back with the head. well that would be my take definately not a yellow and a free kick poet who do you play for??
It doesn't answer your question but I once got booked for getting on my knees to head the ball in after I had rounded the keeper. Goal stood but he booked me for unsporting behaviour. But harsh.
i belive the rules are you cant 'engineer' a header back to the keeper i.e do a kickup so you can head it. So as long as the player has simply headed the ball the ref got it wrong.
Trickery basically means flicking it up to head back to the keeper Eg Foster flicking it up off the floor with his foot and heading it back to the keeper.</p> The referees a complete ****.</p>
What about... If Foster flicked it up from the floor and Moore headed it back to the keeper? Is this still trickery if it was intentional? Probably.
dint Gary Mabbutt get booked at Wembly for stopping the ball then dropping to his knees and "heading" the ball back to the 'keeper, i think it was the1st season the rule came in ?
The law on this has been told to all refs to be applied strictly from next season and a "few" have been told to "try it out for size" till the end of the season. "APPARENTLY" it is going to be applied against Brum tomorrow night!! This comes from a certain ex-prem ref from Staincross who once tried to back heal the ball and fell over
<p class="MsoNormal">If the defender kicked the ball to you it’s would be a back-pass, anything else stand for no back-pass </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> head, knee, (kissmyass) it don’t matter no back-pass (rulez) </p>