News and Announcements
The league is also accepting applications for coaches and referees. A coaches clinic and referee training is provided. For more information contact the league at 894-1088 or cysl@sbcglobal.net
If the ball is on the line, is it in or out? The laws of soccer state that the whole ball must be outside the whole line for it to be out. Therefore, a ball on the line is still in play.
Since the whole ball has to be outside the entire line, the bottom of the ball may be sitting outside the line but still be in play because a portion of the side of the ball is still over the line.
Likewise, for a goal to be scored the whole ball must pass over the entire goal line.
In the Opinion of the ________ (fill in the blank)
"That was a hand ball, ref. Are you blind?" Why didn't the referee call that? Short of not seeing the foul (it's possible he or she was looking somewhere else or were screened by another player), the referee has made a judgement that, in his or her opinion, it was not a deliberate touch of the ball.
The laws contain many phrases like "If, in the opinion of the referee, . . . " or "at his discretion . . ." The laws make the referee the sole judge in soccer. Judgement calls (for example, if a player was tripped or if they just fell down) are based on the judgement of the referee, not the opinion of the coach, players, or spectators.
Sometimes we hear coaches panic when their players aren't standing behind the line when making a throw-in. The laws state that a part of both feet must be on or behind the sideline. Therefore, no need to panic. Even if a player has only part of both heels on the line, it is still a good throw-in.
Other aspects of a good throw-in: a part of both feet touching the ground and the ball must be delivered with both hands from behind and over the head.
Handling (it's not actually called "hand ball") is called when a player deliberately touches the ball with any part of their arm (not just the hands). The key word is "deliberate" touching. Therefore, reflexsively putting your arms up to protect your face from a fast moving ball should not be called as a foul. A ball that accidentally hits a players arm should not be called, even if it then happens to fall to a very advantageous position for the player. The judgement of deliberateness must be made by the referee.
