By Mike Woitalla
What rule do refs in the youth game tend to get wrong most often?
I haven’t gotten a consensus when I’ve asked coaches and refs. But thethrow-in has to be up there.
First of all, it’s great when throw-ins aren’t used at the earliest ages, when it’s best to have a few adults surround the field and prod theball back in, or let the little players dribble or kick the ball in.
But after the time comes to introduce the throw-in, you’ll see refs pounce on what they perceive as an“illegal” throw with a vigor that’s often missing in their reaction to dangerous fouls.
Many refs seem inclined to call a foul throw-in if they see the ball spin, if thekid’s body is twisted, a foot leaves the ground within a second of the throw, the ball flies in an unexpected direction — if it simply looks awkward.
In fact, the rules aren’t that restrictive:
At the moment of delivering theball, the thrower:
• faces the field of play.
• has part of each foot either on the touch line or on the ground outside the touch line.
• holds the ball with bothhands.
• delivers the ball from behind and over his head.
The need for restrictions on how the ball can be thrown is to limit the height and distance of the throw, because that cancreate ugly soccer. If you’ve had the bad luck to watch a game with a Herculean thrower you know what I mean — lots of head-clashing when every throw-in in the final third turns into a cruderversion of the corner kick.
If it were up to me, the rule would be simplified even more. You must face the field, have both feet on the ground, and have two hands on the ball whenreleased.
What would be so bad about a two-handed, under-handed throw-in that delivers a low ball to the teammate?
But the throw-in rule is fine as it is. Youth coaches just have tospend time teaching their kids to throw robot-like in case they run into one of those refs.
Making good use of throw-ins …
Quite common in youth soccer is forcoaches to encourage players to throw the ball in as hard as possible down the sideline. It makes sense intuitively that this would launch an attack. But this tactic rarely works because it’s sopredictable and the narrow space favors the defender.
Better is to suggest to young players to mostly throw the ball to a teammate facing the thrower. That teammate then returns the ball tothe thrower.*
This encourages a possession game.
And you can make a warm-up activity out of it, which also trains throw-ins. In pairs, one throws, the other controls the ball andreturns it (or tries one-touch). It’s a chance to work on controlling balls with the foot, thigh or chest, followed by a crisp pass.
During a game, for the thrower to get the ball backis smart tactically, because the thrower is almost always open, and will have time on the ball. A chance to do something creative.
* Stan Baker had this suggestion in his excellent book, “Our Competition is the World.”
(Mike Woitalla, theexecutive editor of Soccer America, is co-author, with Tim Mulqueen, of The Complete Soccer Goalkeeper andco-author with Claudio Reyna of More Than Goals: The Journey fromBackyard Games to World Cup Competition. Woitalla refs youth soccer in Northern California and coaches at East Bay United/BayOaks.)
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I actually have the opposite problem in my area. The throw-in is seen as an unimportant rule that can be disregarded. I also disagree with the whole twisting note you mentioned. Most of the time when they twist after changing their mind on the recipient of the throw-in they end up twisting their arms to the side of their head. I do completely agree on needing to call dangerous fouls more. I think it ruins the game when players play the man instead of the ball.
I have never quite understood why “the thrower is almost always open” in soccer. Everybody knows he will likely get the ball back after the throw-in, so why is the thrower never marked?
If it were up to me, I’d get rid of throw-ins altogether. If the ball goes out, it goes back in with the feet and with the ball played in on the ground to prevent de facto corner kicks. I’d also get rid of indirect kicks and make everything direct. Keep it simple.
1. Inexperienced referees whistle allegedly foul throws because they are taken when play is static. They fail to recognize foul play because it requires them to make decisions when play is dynamic.2. Go back far enough and kick-ins were the rule in college play. They were more problematic in maintaining possession than throw-ins.
While I agree that refs that focus on foul throws instead of fouls can be sad, I am annoyed by what is now allowed as a legal throw-in (the ugly, twisting motion you described). It used to be that you had to throw the ball evenly with both hands (thus, the spinning ball indicating the foul throw). That limited how far you could throw it (so not everyone could toss the ball into the box). It was also simple, and easy to enforce. If you’re going to allow people to essentially throw it one handed (with the other hand pretending to make it a two-handed throw), then just let people throw it one handed and be done with it (and forget about the feet also). If you want to limit how far people can throw, go back to both feet on the ground, evenly with both hands.
You have to be 2 meters from thrower.
As a ref and coach for over 20 years, I’ve seen a lot, like a ref calling “Play on” when the ball went out of touch, bounced off a lawn chair, and back into play for the attacking team. I’ll admit to being sort of a stickler on throw ins in youth games, but it’s part of the educator. I take the time to explain what was wrong, and, ideally, if league rules allow, let the player try again. In more competitive situations, totally agree, I’m not looking at the thrower, I’m looking at where the ball is going, to catch the quick shove or hard elbow. I do like the idea of a “kick in” with the real little ones, they don’t have the coordination, and calling foul throws can become a full time, fun-spoiling event.
For me the call that refs get wrong most frequently, and one that often has the biggest impact on games, is hand ball. It is called far too much, even at the older ages. Just because the ball touches an arm doesn’t mean it is a foul but a lot of refs – and fans – seem to think so.
If you were a youth referee, and you didn’t want to have to deal with squealing/braying parents and coaches, would you give more or fewer handling fouls and PKs for contact in the box? That’s right, you’d give more, regardless if they were warranted or not.
I consider a throw in just a restart of play, not a big tactical advantage.So the purpose of the throw in to me is get the ball on the field and keep possession then go on from there.
Any body who thinks everything in our game should be ended find your self another sport.In our game fouls are called but the official can let play continue if the team fouled has an advantage if the official does not call the foul.Does that happened in any other sport? Not that I know of.
Officials get offside wrong a lot.