Question:
I got these questions at a recert from a PhD in math. I think I know the answers but I want to be sure.Why is a throw in a throw in from the kneeling position prohibited. I assumed this to prevent the thrower from more or less placing the ball on a teammate’s foot allowing an opponent to only kick the ball back out and waste time.
Would a throw in in the sqatting position then be allowed? I assume this would be considered trying to circumvent the rule and be cosidered misconduct.
Answer (August 20, 2007):
We answered these questions back on June 17, 2005, but it’s always nice to refresh everyone’s memory.
The 2006 edition of the IFAB/FIFA Q&A, Law 15, Q&A 7, tells us:
7. Is a player allowed to take a throw-in kneeling or sitting down?
No. A throw-in is only permitted if the correct procedures in the Laws of the Game are followed.
Squatting is a form of sitting and therefore is not allowed.
This is the surface answer, but we sense that the “Ph. D. in math” is more interested in ultimate justification; in other words, why did the IFAB declare this if a player, while kneeling, is able otherwise to follow the correct procedures outlined in Law 15 (which, of course, do not literally specify standing. Two possibilities occur: First, “standing” is implied as it is the normal posture at any restart, so that anything other than standing is not permitted. Second, because that’s the way it is.
To answer the unasked question as to why the “acrobatic” or “flip” throw-in is allowed, it is because the thrower actually makes the throw from a standing position.
