Click here to view the next lesson.

Day 22 – Goal kicks, corner kicks, and throw-ins

Week 3

Lesson

Topic Point: When the ball goes out of bound, the referee and linesman willsignal how to restart. When the ball is clearly out-of-bounds, no whistle isblown; there will simply be the signal for which team gets the restart andwhere. If the players do not stop, this is typically because the ball is notclearly out of play to the athletes. The linesman will raise his/her flag tosignal the referee, who will then whistle to stop play.

If the ball goes over the end line oneither end of the field, the referee and linesman will signal to the 6-yard boxfor a ‘goal kick’ if the ball was last touched by a player on the offensiveside before going over the end line. The officials will point to the cornerspot if the ball was last touched by a defensive player before going over theend line. If the ball goes over the sideline (touchline), the officials willsignal in the direction of the team awarded the throw-in (to attack toward thegoal of the last team to touch the ball).

Ted Lasso: Out-of-Boundsin England is called “into touch” because the sidelines are called touchlines.In S1E1, this is one of the first interactions between Ted and Coach Bearddemonstrating their friendship and playful banter.

There are a few moments during games thatplay has to be restarted. In S1E10, Richmond is awarded a corner kick which isemphatically noted by Rupert Manion while watching on television. In fact, thecorner kick restart is a “trick play” (discussed Day 15). In S2E1, the playersline up for a corner kick during training for Dani Rojas to resolve his Yips.During S2E6, a throw-in goes to Jaime Tartt where he then makes several goodmoves before being tripped with a sliding tackle.

Soccer-related note: In the mid-1800s, restarts were more variable. Kick-ins and cornerthrow-ins were both used, along with 1-handed throws. The corner kick wasestablished in 1872 and the 2-handed overhead throw-in by 1882. Officials willbe involved with restarts to enforce distance of the opposing team forfree-kicks and corner kicks (10 yards) or if other issues are involved (yellowor red cards, substitutions, injury, etc). Sometimes the team awarded therestart will try to move to a more advantageous position, requiring the refereeto delay the restart until the player positions the ball appropriately.

American Sports comparison: Out-of-bounds and restarts are tightly regulated by the officials inboth American football and basketball. Whistles are blown even when the ball isclearly out of play. The official must hand the ball to the player to signalthe appropriate time for restart. In ice hockey, the official is a necessarypart of the restart as all restarts are done with a face-off. Even in rugby,which uses terminology and positions similar to soccer, the officials are anintricate part of the restart. Soccer is the only team sport, to my knowledge,that has some laxity and fluidity for player autonomy regarding restarts.

Interactive:

Below is a diagram from Conceptdraw.com demonstrating when the ball goes out, how the restart is issued. Simply, if the ball goes out after last touching a yellow player, the ball goes to the red team. It does not matter if yellow directed the ball out, or if a red player kicked it off of a yellow player (this can be seen similarly in basketball).
If the ball goes out over the endline on the offensive side of the field last touched by the offensive team, the defensive team gets a goal kick. If the ball goes over the endline on the defensive side of the field last touched by the defensive team, the offensive team gets a corner kick. Throw-ins are taken when the ball goes over the sideline (touchline).