Question:
I was posed this question that I didn’t honestly have the answer to. This is in regards to the portable goals with the tires on the sides to make moving the goal easy.
Everything has been set properly but during the course of play ball seems to go over the touchline close to the uprights, but hits the tire of the goal and bounces back in to play without the entire ball crossing the line.
The question is: Do we consider the tire part of the goal and let play continue or do we treat it simular to football field goal that hangs over the goal and if that is hit, the ball is out regardless if it bounces back into play?
USSF answer (September 2, 2009):
You are correct! Wheeled goals fall under the same category as football goalposts. This is covered in the USSF publication “Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game”:
(b) Non-regulation appurtenances (see 1.7)
These include superfluous items attached to the goal frame (such as the uprights on combination soccer/football goals) and not generally subject to movement. If the ball contacts these items, it is deemed to be automatically out of play and the restart is in accordance with the Law, based on which team last played the ball.
