IFAB clarification on goalkeeper handling outside of the PA

Ok got it, the ball can now be both within and outside the penalty area at the same instant.

What made this sophistry seem necessary?

 

Schrodinger's ball

 

On the one hand, this is probably counter to the way we have been thinking. On the other hand, the point of contact for foul can put it inside the PA even while part of the fouled.player isn't (and vice versa) so it does kinda feel internally consistent.
It's also a clarification/interpretation fueled by the era of video review. I mean, when else are you likely to be able to make some distinction than when watching it slowed down.

 

So if the ball gets carried over the line by a keeper's momentum, it's a DFK as soon as the hand crosses over the line?

 

And, does that now mean there can be a PK against the keeper for handling if he saves a ball by touching the part of the ball over the goal line when the ball hasn’t fully crossed! What we all thought was a superb save is now a DOGSO red and a PK!

 

Hmm. I just went on the IFAB Facebook page to take a screen shot, and I don’t see that answer. Perhaps it was taken down? So I’ll never get to send off the keeper for the brilliant save?

 

I sense that they're just clarifying what a lot of youth coaches already bring up constantly -- as long as the keeper releases the ball before ball/hands cross out of the PA, they can punt and make actual foot-to-ball contact outside the PA.

Because those extra two feet of distance on that punt will make the difference between whether the kid grows up to be Tim Howard or a rec leaguer.

 

But what it says is wrong according to everything that I’ve heard for forever. What has always been taught, as far as I know, is that the GK is permitted to handle the ball if he ball is in the PA, and the ball is in the PA if any part of the ball is in the PA.

if what was posted is true, it is a HB offense if the GKKs hand is on the part of the ball that isn’t in the PA—which would include being past the goal line, which is absolutely insane. I think this was simp,y poorly thought out or worded—which could explain why it is no longer there.

 

Oops. It’s there:


During the game, it may happen that the goalkeeper leaves their penalty area with the ball in their hand(s), for example before releasing the ball or while collecting the ball and their momentum causes them to leave the penalty area (especially in wet/slippery conditions).
RESTART
Outside their penalty area, the goalkeeper has the same restrictions on handling the ball as any other player. If the goalkeeper touches the ball with their hand(s)/arm(s) outside their penalty area, it is a handball offence which is penalised by a direct free kick.
OFFENCE/NO OFFENCE
The relevant point is where exactly the goalkeeper’s hand is in contact with the ball. If that contact is outside the penalty area, it is a direct free kick offence (even if the ball is not entirely outside the penalty area). The position of the goalkeeper’s feet is irrelevant.

 

I have had youth coaches argue with me that it's ok if a goalkeeper touches the ball with their hands outside the penalty area because their feet are inside the penalty area. In their logic where the player's feet are determines if they are in the penalty area. Maybe IFAB is trying to clarify that?

 

You make a good point about the point of contact for a PK, though I still think the ball is more reasonably in one place or the other since it has no parts/limbs, as was the case before this helpful guidance. Will chew on what you have said... And yeah VAR is where this will happen.

 

I saw this on Facebook a day or two ago and was surprised. But again, I don't know if this is really a change in IFAB's position, or whether the opposite position was just a USSF thing.

I think I first came across this question years ago, and my gut reaction was that it would be handling if the ball is partly outside of the area and the keeper touches that portion of the ball with his hand. I guess my mental understanding of the law is that "the keeper can't touch the ball with his hands outside of the area," with "touch" being the key word that goes with "outside of the area." I can see why people would interpret it differently, but for me this "new" interpretation just seems more intuitive.

On the other hand, we obviously would call it handling if an outfield player handled a ball that was partly on the touchline, even if he touched a part of the ball that wasn't inside the field of play.

 

Yep, because lines are part of the areas they define, and a ball astride the touch line is binarily in the field of play.

 

What about a ball that was partly in the penalty area? If a non-keeper touched the part of the ball that was outside the line, it would be a DFK. If they touch the part of the ball on or inside the PA line, a PK (assuming a defending player). So this announcement from IFAB applies the same principle. Not that I like it - for everything else it's the position of the ball that matters (in/out, goal scored or not, etc.)

 

I can definitely recall a few times in my referee career where I could see it clearly to that degree of precision. I remember one particular indoor game, before I was receiving frequent refereeing instruction, where I called a free kick in this situation because my reading of the Law was that the point of contact with the hand was the defining location, though I realized at the time that this interpretation was very ambiguous. Later on as I got more “formal” referee education, I was told that the location of the (whole) ball was what mattered. And now here we are again.

All told I do think this is the more sensible reading of the law, as the handling itself occurs at the point of contact between the hand and the ball rather than across the entire volume of the sphere. But this is absolutely something that should have been specifically clarified in the LOTG years ago.

 

If what matters is the location of the touch and we apply this consistently for non-keepers as well, any defender can legally block a shot with his hands as long as he makes contact with the ball inside the goal before the ball crosses entirely over the goal line?

 

Conceivably, but only if the bottom of the PA (i.e. goal line) comes to mirror this new treatment of the top and sides.

 

could have a few years ago, but fouls can now occur outside the field of play. . . . But since the GK can only use his hands in the PA now, is it a PK if the GK touches the ball behind the goal line while still in play

 

How many devils can dance on the head of a pin