Question:
what is the radius of the PENALTY SPOT and the CENTER SPOT?

USSF answer (December 27, 2008):
The prescribed size of the penalty mark for games played under the Laws of the Game is nine inches (0.22 m) in diameter — although you will no longer find it in the Laws of the Game.

Between 1975 and 1996-1997 (the orange book), the body of the Law contained no mandated dimension for the penalty mark. It said only that a “suitable mark” would be present. Going at least as far back as 1984, however, the accompanying field diagram labeled the mark as a 9-inch (0.22 m) diameter circle. In 1997 this was dropped from the diagram.

Just to be sure, we checked this with Stanley Lover, one of the acknowledged world experts on the Laws and their history, on the matter:

Agree, the 9 inch dimension has never been specified in the laws but there is a clue to its origin.

Way back in the 1956 FA Referees’ Chart the Preface refers to the inclusion of “interpretations of the laws, made from time to time by the Referees’ Committee of FIFA…and published for the first time as ‘International Board Decisions’ ”
These included a table of metric equivalents of Imperial measurements.
The field diagram was as before – Imperial only – and remained unchanged, I believe, until the 1997 fiasco.

However, my first FIFA  laws book of 1973 shows a 9 inch dia. penalty ‘spot’, although, strangely, the metric equivalent (0.22m) was not added to the table until 1974. The FA Chart 74-5 also added the 0.22m figure.

This suggests to me that, before 1956, the FIFA Referees’ Committee published various interpretations of the laws – to guide non-UK countries – including its version of the field diagram. At some time up to 1956 it was decided to put a size to the penalty mark, which equated to the diameter of the ball (logical), but without proposing it to the IFAB to be in formal law.

Although ‘Penalty mark’ is the formal law description it has left the door open to the use of a short line, as you mention in some USA soccer associations. As you know the original penalty-kick reference was a line so there is logic in that too. However, for donkeys years it was a ‘Penalty spot’ in FA charts and accepted as such.

Just to confuse the issue a bit more – the FIFA 1973 law book diagram labels the ‘mark’ as a ‘spot’, but in the 1974 issue it’s a ‘mark’ !

We can find no information on an actual specified size for the center mark or center spot. One sees different sized center marks all over the world. It is simply a convenience for the placement of the kick-off and its size makes absolutely no difference.…

Question:
If the markings of a field are incorrect, in this case, specifically the penalty mark, should the existing mark be used, or should the referee mark off the correct distance? This is on an artificial field, so it cannot be covered or moved easily.

USSF answer (August 5, 2008):
If the penalty mark is in the wrong place and cannot, for whatever reason, be changed, the referee must ensure that any penalty kicks are taken from the correct distance from the goal line and in the correct location in relation to both goal posts. Possible mismarked lines can be worked with, but the penalty kick occurs so rarely and can be so decisive, that the distance MUST be correct.…

Question:
Assume the head and torso are behind his feet in all situations (and the ball and the next to the last defender is in Players A’s half of the field).

Player A is on his half of the field with:
A. His feet not touching the mid-field strip.
B. One foot on the mid-field stripe and one foot in his half of the field.
C. One both feet on the mid-field stripe with toes in the opponent’s side of the field.

In A. he is clearly on-side.

Is he on-side in B or C?

Could you direct me to the Law, Rule, Advice or Q&A where this is written?

USSF answer (July 30, 2008):
Part of your answer lies in Law 1, which tells us that the lines belong to the areas which they demarcate. Ergo, the halfway line belongs to both the player’s half of the field and to the opponent’s half of the field.

Another part lies in the words of Law 11, which tell us that only those parts of a player’s body which can legally play the ball are considered when determining offside position. Therefore, hands are not included in the calculation; only head, legs, and torso are considered.

Player A is in the opponent’s end of the field in B and C for purposes of determining offside position. The source for this is Memorandum 2005 (the annual Law change memorandum from USSF) which stated: USSF Advice to Referees: Although it is not specifically stated, this same concept of “nearer to” should be used in determining if an attacker is in his opponents’ end of the field (i. e., if any part of his head, body or feet is past the midfield line.)

As explained, the player is “past the midfield line” in B and C because a part of the body that can legally play the ball is on or beyond the midfield line.

The third and final part lies in a paragraph no longer included in the Laws; not included simply because it is something that every person involved in the game should know intuitively: “The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view it is the duty of referees to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators.”

That paragraph was called the “V8” clause because it was formerly International Football Association Board Decision 8 to Law 5 (then called “Law V”).…

Question:
A defender has fallen on the ground in the “D”, the area just above the penalty area inside the penalty arc. The ball rests nearby in the D, just touching the penalty area line. As an attacker fast approaches, the defender, in a panic, uses his hand to deliberately knock the ball back to his goalkeeper. His hand contacts the ball outside the box and never reaches the penalty area line.

Should a direct kick or a penalty kick be awarded to the opposing team? That is, is the handling considered to be “in the penalty area” because the ball is “in the penalty area”, even if the actual contact occurs outside the penalty area?

USSF answer (July 14, 2008):
If by “just touching” you mean that the ball was overlapping the penalty area (PA) line, that placed the ball WITHIN the PA, so it makes no difference that the hand contacted the portion that was outside the PA. The correct restart would be a penalty kick — after the player was been properly punished.

The correct punishment depends on the position of other players during the event in question. If the deliberate handling did not deny the attacking team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity, then the punishment is a caution for unsporting behavior.…

Question:
I was working a tournament and the field that I was on had the temporary style goals. Because of the style of goals and the way the ground was the top right corner of the goal was leaning back from the field. We had a player come down the left side of the field and at about 5 feet off the end line took a shot. The ball crossed the opening of the goal and hit the inside of the upright near the top on the right side. Due to the angle of the shot the ball then bounced back toward the player that took the shot. With the amount that this corner was leaning back when the ball hit the inside of the post the ball had fully crossed the line. My A/R was right on the line and put his flag up. When I looked at him he sprinted up the field and I awarded the goal.

Some referees say this is a good goal and others say it was not. In your opinion did we call this correct?

USSF answer (June 23, 2008):
The Law requires that the ball cross the entire goal line, below the crossbar and between the goal posts. If that was the case in your game, then the goal was legal.

Your question brings up an important point regarding the pregame inspection: If the referee inspects the field and finds it meets the standards required by Law 1, when in fact it does not, then he or she places his or her authority and credibility in danger when a situation like this occurs. Lesson to be learned: Be certain that both teams know of the condition and how you will call goals. This, of course, violates our general instruction that referees not lecture the players or make “promises” as to what they will do, but this is the exception that proves the rule.

Even if the referee has inspected the field before the game, this sort of thing could happen if a player had run into the temporary goal just a moment before the situation you describe occurred. We believe that the whole of the ball crossing the whole of the goal line between where the goal posts SHOULD be is enough to call it a goal.…

Question:
Law 1 states that “the field of play is divided into two halves by a halfway line”.

Law 11 states that a player is not offside if “he is in his own half of the field of play”.

I assume that I was correct when I flagged two players this past year for having a foot on the halfway line (but not over), since the player (technically) was not in his/her half of the field. However, some seasoned refs told me that having a foot on the half way line should not result in being called offside when that player received a pass.

Help!

USSF answer (April 3, 2008):
Technically, if any part of a player that can legally play the ball is past the midfield line, they are in the opponents’ end of the field and could be in an offside position — depending on the positioning of the opposing players.  That counts head, feet and any other part of the player that can legally play the ball — but certainly not the hands. If the referee finds that this player is in an offside position and becomes actively involved in play from that position after a teammate plays the ball in his or her direction, then he or she should be declared offside.…