RefStripes.com
Football Officiating => National Federation Discussion => Topic started by: refsmitty on September 06, 2011, 01:44:29 PM
-
My crew mate tells me that a free kick can't be caught by K - I am getting confused when reading the following from Rule 6
freekick
line.
ART. 4 . . . Any receiver may catch or recover a free kick in the field of play and
advance, unless any R player has given a valid or invalid fair-catch signal. R may
catch or recover a free kick in K’s end zone.
ART. 5 . . . If any K player recovers or catches a free kick, the ball becomes
dead. It belongs to him unless it is kick-catching interference and R chooses an
awarded fair catch or unless it is first touching.
Help please
-
Your crew mate is partially correct. K may only legally catch a free kick if it has been muffed by an R player. Otherwise, it's KCI.
In either event, the ball is immediately dead, since K cannot advance a free kick.
-
Look at 6-5-6 which provides the specific prohibition of K touching a free kick in flight and decribes it as kick catching interference.
-
For a free kick to be possessed by K, the ball must have hit the ground and gone 10 yards. Those two things can happen in either order.
If R touches or is touched by the ball, the above restrictions are removed. The ball does NOT have to be muffed by R to remove the restrictions, although a muff would be considered a touch.
-
The ball does not have to be muffed - but a free kick in flight can not be deemed to have gone 10 yards until it touches something in the field of play. That would have to be the ground or a player.
-
The ball does not have to be muffed - but a free kick in flight can not be deemed to have gone 10 yards until it touches something in the field of play. That would have to be the ground or a player.
"The ground or an "R" player - not a "K" player.....(6-5-6)