Some of the core changes are with the goalkeeper. FIFA again wants us to keep the game moving, more play with the feet and ball. To this end it has added yet more restrictions on the goalkeeper. Most significantly is that the goalkeeper may not play a ball with his hands if it came from a teammates throw in. Remember a goalkeeper can always play any ball with his/her feet no matter who it was from.

Also, a goalkeeper now is given a guideline as to how long he/she may hang on to the ball before distributing it out to his teammates. That time line is about 5-6 seconds. There is no need to count off the time. Merely let the goalkeeper know that time is running out and the ball needs to be distributed. Lets not get ourselves into trouble with this. Start your count after the goalkeeper is done collecting the ball. Lets all get comfortable with this before we start being insistent on exactly 6 seconds.

FIFA made these many changes to go along with the way we were already officiating the game. An example is the corner kick. In every other restart from a boundary line the player only needed to have the ball somewhere on that line, but in a corner kick, it had to be within the corner arc. Few referees enforced it anyway. FIFA merely made it Law.

The same was basically true with restarts. I never really ever saw an indirect free-kick that rolled exactly 36 inches before someone else would play it. Now a ball is in play once it has been touched and it moves. Do not over analyze this. If a ball is touched it has been moved. Very easy.

Does this mean we do not need to follow the guidance of FIFA and AYSO? No. We as officials need listen to our organizations and follow their directives. FIFA has said that it wants the violent tackles from behind stopped. We need to listen. We need to have the courage to make that call. We need to protect our children. As an official, your number one concern should be for the safety of the players. You need to react with great seriousness when there is dangerous, reckless behavior by players. Soccer is a game of skill and sportsmanship and we as officials need to keep that tradition alive.

A reminder that we have the dates for our Area Upgrade clinic. The clinic will be over three weeks. One all day session on Sept. 28th and two night sessions one on Sept. 30th and the last on Oct. 7th. All sessions will be at the LA Times building in Chatsworth. You must contact your Regional Referee Administrator to register.

See you out on the pitch,



PS. This will be a weekly section where I talk about experiences relating to soccer officiating. Please feel free to e-mail me with suggestions for topics you would like me to cover.

me at photero@aol.com