Aliens in football?
- Goalkeeper tees
- Überhupt
In this chapter, a new risk is taken: something is postulated without actually knowing the background, or more concretely, one could also say without knowing the rule text.
The risk is to put oneself in the shoes of an alien, or even just a football alien, and to try to figure out this rule formulation from the alien’s point of view. In other words, one tries to draw conclusions from certain observed decisions. Surely, if you observe for a long enough period of time, you should eventually find out what the rules say?
Now, here are a few game situations with the corresponding, observed referee decisions, which are supposed to contribute to the rule formulation.
The first case looks like this: A goalkeeper has the ball in his hand. He has intercepted a cross, for example. One observes that he carries the ball to the edge of the penalty area, throws it onto his own foot and from there, pushes it forward with a lot of force. Sure, a highly commonplace situation. Except: it has been observed that there is a white line snaking around the goal which is a marker. Obviously, it is the case that outside this solid line, the goalkeeper is NOT allowed to pick up the ball. Now, by chance, you take a closer look at the goal kicks. You notice that the goalkeeper very often, when he runs forward, steps on the line, sometimes even crosses it on this tee shot. Now, this would not be a cause for concern if he had thrown the ball into the air long beforehand in order to hit it forward. Only one finds that this is by no means always the case. The referee’s decision observed is : play on. There is never, never a violation of the rules in these cases. Crossing the line is not possible? It doesn’t matter? Special rules apply to the tee shot?
You don’t think anything special about it, especially you wouldn’t go into a clinch with referees and assistants, the avowed rule foxes. No. You just registered something, observed it, and tried to understand it, in context.
In the second case, one observes a ball hit far forward. The goalkeeper does not leave his penalty area (as we now know). A striker rushes after the ball. The ball bounces, the goalkeeper’s good eye did not deceive him: The ball does not fall on the striker’s head but he plucks it down just in front of, i.e. above, the attacker’s head. Mind you, the ball is outside as the crow flies, the goalkeeper’s feet are on the edge of the penalty area, but not outside. The referee, the fox, lets it go on, no question and not even the hint of a doubt. The interpretation: Obviously this behaviour is correct, otherwise surely the play would have been stopped?!
Well, case 1 and case 2 fit together quite well. One already very carefully forms a picture, which is, however, somewhat clouded by the recurring third case. It looks like this: A goalkeeper had rushed out of his penalty area. He certainly intended to kick the ball away, which in this case (a rare exception) he does not manage to do. What happens: the attacker reaches the ball in front of him, this outside the penalty area. Well, it is not yet a shooting position. The attacker tries to get the ball into one, moves towards the edge of the penalty area, inside. The goalkeeper rushes after the attacker. He rushes at the ball from outside the penalty area. You can clearly see: the ball is inside the penalty area. This time, however, it is not the feet, and this is far more than clear! The referee has decided to play on without batting an eyelid or blowing the whistle or using his hand or arm. Well, the only possible, therefore clear and correct decision, it would be presumptuous to question this.
This situation also recurs in different ways. In any case, the situation is more frequently observed where a goalkeeper throws himself at a ball lying in the penalty area and the feet – also many other body parts – are completely clearly outside the penalty area. No referee ever considered penalising this.
Nu you simply try to reconcile these rules and suck the rule text out of your fingers. the result is as follows:
In one’s own penalty area, a player who is clearly distinguishable from the other players may play the ball with his hand in addition to the parts of his body otherwise permitted. The line representing the mark is part of the penalty area. As long as either the goalkeeper’s feet are inside the penalty area – according to the above definition – or the ball is inside the penalty area — according to the identical rules — there is no violation of the rules.