Keeping your feet on the ground

ASHORT while ago I received a letter asking me ‘can a player take a throw-in while sitting on the ground, if for instance the thrower had slipped while throwing the ball’?

The answer is a very simple – no.

The offside Law is very positive on this point. It says ‘the thrower has to

STAND, facing the field of play with part of each foot on or behind the touchline.

So a player can throw in from behind the touch line, but each foot must be grounded, and the offside Law must be adhered to, no matter how far back the thrower is.

There is no distance specified how far that might be, except that it says that if the ball touches the ground before the field of play, it must be taken again by the same team.

A year or so ago I was mentoring a young girl referee who was refereeing very young players. Twelve-year-olds, if I remember correctly.

Under 16, referees can only referee players who are two years younger than they are.

The ball went out of play over the touchline. The young player who took the throw-in, lifted one foot off the ground in the course of the throw.

The referee blew the whistle for a foul throw.

My immediate thought was that I probably wouldn’t have blown my whistle.

After all, it is difficult at that very young age to throw the ball in, even with one foot off the ground, and they probably wouldn’t have thrown it very far.

However, the young referee collected the ball and walked over to the thrower.

That’s a mistake I thought, the penalty for all foul throws is that the throw-in is given to the opposing side.

However the referee then proceeded in demonstrating to the young player the correct way to take the throw-in.

Behind and over the head and keeping both feet on the ground.

She then handed the ball back and the young player took the throw-in again, this time perfectly.

And during that game all the players who took throw-ins, got it right.

The referee and I discussed it after the match and although I mentioned the correct interpretation of the throw-in Law, I congratulated her on her kind, thoughtful action.

Going back to the original request for an answer on a question of Law, I would mention that I often receive queries one way or another.

If you have a question, I can be contacted at sawdonsmith@hotmail.com but it is only on the Laws of the Game, not a complaint about your last referee.