What do you have?

[Frank in FL]

Free Kick.  Kicking team attempting on sides kick.  Kicker drives ball immediately into ground.  Goes high into air where a K team member bats the ball forward before it goes 10 yards.  While ball is in the air, a member of R gives a fair catch signal.  R recovers ball.  Happened in a playoff game in FL friday night.

[Curious]

Free Kick.  Kicking team attempting on sides kick.  Kicker drives ball immediately into ground.  Goes high into air where a K team member bats the ball forward before it goes 10 yards.  While ball is in the air, a member of R gives a fair catch signal.  R recovers ball.  Happened in a playoff game in FL friday night.

1. first touching by K. R could take the ball at that spot (6-1-6); but,
2. R made an invalid fair catch signal as the kick has touched the ground (2-9-4c).

Since R committed a foul during the down (assuming K accepts the penalty), they lose the right to take the ball at the spot of K's first touching (6-2-5). So, the ball became dead when recovered following the invalid signal (6-5-6).  Since the foul occurred during the kick (loose ball), the enforcement would be from the previous spot.

Of course K could refuse the penalty and R would get the ball at the spot of first touching; but, under the circumstances, that seems highly unlikely.

What happened Friday night?

 

[Frank in FL]

Exactly that.  They huddled for a few minutes, and got the call right. 

[Curious]

Exactly that.  They huddled for a few minutes, and got the call right. 

They agreed with me.....must be great officials!!!!

[Curious]

They agreed with me.....must be great officials!!!!

Before I pat myself on the back, I should think twice .  While the result would be the same, I forgot to mention that K's initial BAT could have been considered illegal since (9-7-2) says no player may bat a loose ball except for:

a pass or fumble or low scrimmage kick in flight behind the NZ
a grounded scrimmage kick
a scimmage kick in flight with no R player in position to catch the ball

(and the latter two can only be by K and have to be toward their own goal line)

If the bat was considered illegal by the officials, this could cause a double foul and result in a re-kick.  Same destination - just got there by a different route....

I'd be very interested in how the game officials made their enforcement decision.

[LarryW60]

Curious, none of those exceptions you listed involve a free kick.  Sounds to me like it was illegal batting. Penalties offset, re-kick.

[Curious]

Curious, none of those exceptions you listed involve a free kick.  Sounds to me like it was illegal batting. Penalties offset, re-kick.

Fad,

I agree that a double foul is probably what the crew came up with and you're right about the "exceptions"; but the prohibition against batting extends to any other loose ball (into which category a free kick falls) - right?

I was just trying to be thorough as to when batting would be allowed....

[Harry]

Double foul.  Rekick.  First touching is doesn't apply because a foul is accepted on the play.  Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to ignore the invalid signal just because the receiver didn't know the ball touched the ground.

[GoGoGo]

Is first touching a foul?

RB page 29 says:

ART. 6 . . . Game situations which produce results somewhat similar to penalties, but which are not classified as fouls are: disqualification of a player, first touching of a kick by K and forfeiture of a game.

RB page 52 says:

If any K player touches a free kick before it crosses R’s free-kick line and before it is touched there by any R player, it is referred to as “first touching of the kick.” R may take the ball at the spot of first touching, or any spot if there is more than one spot of first touching, or they may choose to have the ball put in play as determined by the action which follows first touching. Such touching is ignored if it is caused by R pushing or blocking K into contact with the ball. The right of R to take the ball at the spot of first touching by K is canceled if R touches the kick and thereafter during the down commits a foul or if the penalty is accepted for any foul committed during the down.

[LarryW60]

First-touching is not a foul.  It is a reference point that MAY get used for spotting the ball.  A player on the kicking team who touches the ball before the ball goes 10 yards (on a free kick) or before the ball is touched by a player on the receiving team (on a scrimmage kick) causes a bean bag (not a flag) to be dropped where the touching occurred.  The receiving team may decide to have the ball placed at the spot of first touching instead of where it was actually downed.  What IS a foul is intentionally slapping a ball farther downfield.  That becomes illegal batting.

In the OP, had K been the only team to foul with the illegal batting, R could have declined the penalty and taken the ball at the yard-line where the batting occurred - because it was ALSO the spot of first-touching.  Because both teams committed fouls, though, they offset and the play should be done over.