I was bragging to my 12 year old nephew that I just got my grade 08 and he immediately stumped me with a question that I don't remember us covering in the class... Can a keeper, who has gained possession and legally handled the ball in his penalty area, throw the ball into the opponents net for a goal? Think Brad Friedel and one of his "hail mary" clearances. My inclination is to say "Yes" since his is not infringing on any LOTG, or am I missing something here? Of course, with my 12 year old nephew, I just played it cool and said "As if that would ever happen!" Thanks in advance! Jarrett
Jarrett, Welcome to the dark side. Yes, under the FIFA LotG, a 'keeper may score a goal by throwing the ball from his own penalty area. (They should have covered this in Law 10.) -nat
If you could find such a player. There's no way a keeper could throw the ball that far unless they were playing in the smallest field in the world. On a full size field we are talking about a throw of 82-102 yards. That's not humanly possible. A punt yes, a throw no.
Or a throw of only 50 yds, with a few good bounces. Jarrett mentioned Brad Friedel. We've all seen him wing it at least 60 yds. on the fly. Combine that with a brain-dead opposing 'keeper ...
Like I said, "As if that would happen" The inspiration for my nephew's question was actually the movie "Shaolin Soccer" which we were watching. In the movie, this does indeed happen. Of course, so do quite a few other supernatural things. But it did get me thinking about the scenario.
Strong wind at his back, last gasp situation where a team puts their GK up for a corner, the defender at the back is either brain dead or out of position or slips...I actually DON'T think it's impossible.
I've actually seen someone come close to this. One of our fields is real small, about 60 yds end to end, and a mammoth 14yr old, with lots of wind, two-hopped the ball into the other keeper's hands. I bet it could happen, if the other keeper had been napping.