Question:
I am sure I saw something in the past, but cannot find it.
I under stand if an offensive player is fouled outside the penalty area and the foul continues into the penalty area, it results in a penalty kick (ex the defensive player started pushing the attacker outside and continued to push him as the player entered the penalty area).
When a foul is committed outside the penalty area by the defensive player and the offensive player falls into the penalty area. It is considered a continuation foul that results in a penalty kick in the following situations?
Scenario 1 The offensive player is moving toward the goal and is fouled approximately 1 foot outside the penalty area and his momentum carried him into the penalty area.
Scenario 2 The offensive player is moving toward the goal and is fouled well outside the penalty area and his momentum after one or two steps carried him into the penalty area where he falls.
Scenario 3 The offensive player is standing just outside the penalty area, is fouled and falls into the penalty area.
USSF answer (May 29, 2008):
The source of your information is this position paper, issued in April 2007:
Subject: When Fouls Continue!
Date: April 30, 2007Prompted by several recent situations in professional league play, a discussion has developed regarding the proper action to take when a foul continues over a distance on the field. Many fouls occur with the participants in motion, both the player committing the foul and the opponent being fouled, and it is not unusual for the offense to end far away from where the initial contact occurred.
Usually, the only problem this creates for the referee is the need to decide the proper location for the restart. Occasionally, however, an additional issue is created when the distance covered results in an entirely different area of the field becoming involved. A foul which starts outside the penalty area, for example, might continue into and finally end inside the offending player’s penalty area. Or a foul might start inside the field but, due to momentum, end off the field. In these cases, the decision about where the foul occurred also affects what the correct restart must be.
In general, the referee should determine the location of the foul based on what gives the greater benefit to the player who was fouled. FIFA has specifically endorsed this principle in one of its “Questions and Answers on the Laws of the Game “ (12.31) which states that a penalty kick is the correct restart if a player begins holding an opponent outside the player’s penalty area and continues this action inside his penalty area.
The restarts for the actions described in your three scenarios do not qualify as penalty kicks unless the foul continues to be committed from outside the penalty area into the penalty area. Momentum alone does not change the location of the foul if the player who committed the foul stops before the player who was fouled actually enters the penalty area.
Where referees err here is to forget that some fouls are clearly single events (e. g., trip, strike, kick) whereas others at least can be continuous events (hold, charge) and still others are ambiguous (e. g., jumping at — is this foul located where the jumper starts his jump or where the opponent is at whom the jump is aimed?).
So, to emphasize it clearly: The restarts for the actions described in your three scenarios do not qualify as penalty kicks unless the foul continues to be committed from outside the penalty area into the penalty area. Momentum alone is not enough.
