Set-Pieces - Goal Kicks

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Set-Pieces - Goal Kicks By Julian Carosi.
(A series of articles on how to officiate in a proactive way by improving how you deal with specific incidents and how to become a better Referee).

These ideas are not prescriptive; rather, they will hopefully give you some new things to think about, and encourage you towards adopting a consistent approach by dovetailing them into your own style of refereeing.

To begin with, let us look at what can be considered during the first goal kick of each game.

During the first goal kick taken by each goalkeeper:

To encourage goalkeepers with the correct placement of the ball and to minimise delays in the taking of goal kicks, make an effort to get close to the respective goalkeepers (in turn) and offer a few words of advice as they are placing (or collecting) the ball in readiness for their first goal kick.

A simple proactive, 'As quick as you can please keeper, and make sure the ball is inside the goal area.'

The first goal kick also offers the first chance for you to give an early subtle 'thumbs-up' signal of encouragement towards your active Assistant Referee. This is very important, especially when Club Assistant Referees are being used, as it makes them instantly feel part of your team.

For the first goal kick, take up a position on the same side of the field of play that the goal kick is being taken from. This allows you to monitor the correct placement of the ball and puts you in the line of sight of the goalkeeper (to grab his attention) should you wish to communicate anything to him. Use the first goal kick as a 'measuring stick' to gauge the distance that the respective goalkeepers are able to kick the ball. This is important in judging approximately how far up the field you need to stand when observing subsequent goal kicks. This allows you to monitor the 'drop-zones' from the correct position, thereby identifying and punishing (from a nearby side-on view) those subtle pushed and nudges that players often commit when challenging opponents for high balls delivered from goal kicks.

The simple actions above, serve several purposes. The proactive approach towards each goalkeeper during their first goal kick, delivers a subconscious message that tells them that you expect goal kicks to be taken properly during the rest of the game, and shows that you will be keeping a close eye on any antics such as time-wasting or illegal positioning of the ball. The actions also demonstrate a positive attitude by the referee, and allow him to analyse the results so that subsequent positioning and control become more effective.

Monitoring the goal area when goal kicks are taking place:

One of the most common areas of development for new referees (and even some established referees!) is breaking the habit of turning backs to the scene of goal kicks.

Any astute referee will tell you that, 'As soon as you take your eyes off any active situation during a game of football, something will happen that requires your intervention.'

A goal kick situation is more prone to such occurrences, as players know that this is an area of the game that referees often give far less attention to as they make their way to the restart position near the halfway line.

There is more chance of a misdemeanour happening near the scene of most restarts, than elsewhere on the field. When a referee closely monitors goal kick preparations, his alertness will actually stop unsavoury incidents happening. The players know this. By running backwards, or looking over his shoulder, the referee can easily keep his eye on proceedings with hardly any additional effort on his part.

Which side of the field should I stand?

The following consideration will prevent referees unnecessarily sprinting an extra 40-60 metres to reach the optimum position on the diagonal patrol path. When referees place themselves near the halfway line to monitor goal kicks, they sometimes do so with little (or no) consideration as to which side of the field they should be. In fact, the reason sometimes given usually follows the train of, 'I always stand on this side!'

When a goal kick is taken, one team or another will win possession of the ball. The ensuing action then moves into what is generally known as the second phase of play. An astute referee who can anticipate (with high probability), where the second phase play action will move to, during a goal kick, will use this knowledge to place himself nearby in readiness to monitor proceedings. There are many factors that an astute referee will consider when making this judgement; the skill levels of the respective teams; the wind strength and direction, the slope of the field; the determination of each team; the angle of the sun etc. All of these factors will have an influence in increasing (or decreasing) a particular team's chance of winning possession from a goal kick, thus determining where the second phase of play will more likely develop.

In order to understand the following advice, let us first describe the term 'attacking diagonal'. The diagonal system, is a patrol path that referees use to monitor each game. It consists of a path run between one corner flag and an alternate corner flag, at an angle across the length of the field of play from one goal line towards the other. When a referee places himself on the attacking diagonal, he is in the defenders' half of the field of play where an attacking team are (or more likely to be) building an attack towards the defending team's goal.

If a team (let us call them the Red team) have tall attacking players who are good at winning high balls, and are blessed with a goalkeeper who is proficient at kicking the ball long distances, it is more likely that when the Red team goalkeeper takes a goal kick, the ball will continue its path towards the goal of the defending team (let us call them the Blue team). If this is the case, to monitor goal kicks taken by the Red team, the referee should (more often) place himself in the Blue team's half of the field of play, on his attacking diagonal near to the Blue team's outside midfield position. Why? Because there is more chance of the Red team winning possession and instigating an attacking move than the Blue team. This will place the referee in the correct position to monitor the anticipated attack towards the Blue team's goal. If the referee had placed himself on the opposite side of the field of play, he would have had to sprint some 50 or so metres (from one side of the field to the other) to reach the correct position on his diagonal to monitoring this attacking move.

The trick is to weigh up the probability of where the play action will move to in the second phase, following the taking of each goal kick. Once this has been considered, the referee should place himself on the attacking diagonal, nearest to where he thinks the play action will probably move.

Try it, and see if it saves you having to sprint 40-60 metres!