Hop Ball From a Free Kick

[screenexile]

Was involved in a match at the weekend in England where the referee made some very debatable decisions regarding the Free Kick situation.

On 4 separate occasions the referee hopped the ball from a free kick in scoreable positions. Whilst during the match he would not divulge as to why he had done this, we were later informed that it was because the free takers had 'bounced the ball before taking the kick'. You can imagine the uproar from one of the camps as to this suggestion  as it can be clearly seen from any number of televised games on a Sunday that there are many High Profile free takers e.g. Padraig Joyce, Paddy Bradley, have a routine where they bounce the ball before taking a free kick for a score. Can anyone clarify the ruling on this as it would serve to help the argument currently going on over on the Hoganstand website.

Thanks in advance.

[AZOffaly]

You can hop the ball as often as you like now. When the kick from the hand came in first, there was a rule which said you could not hop the ball before kicking it, but that's been done away with.

If the kick was taken from the incorrect position, the ref would have been within his rights to throw the ball up, but not for hopping it before kicking it.


(I'm not sure about toe-tapping a solo. That might constitute a 'kick' to oneself, which would be illegal and cause a hop ball I'd say)

[5 Sams]

As far as I know there was a rule in place a brave few years ago when it was not allowed to bounce or solo the ball while preparing to take a free. However that rule has long been done away with....



In my opinion when  a ref hops the ball its generally because he doesnt know the rule to apply and the hop ball is the get out clause.

[Hardy]

What sort of a half-wit referee refuses to say why he gave a free and allows you to carry on making the same mistake? Talk about a Hitler complex.

Surely we should be going the other way and taking the example of rugby referees, who talk the players through everything. Though sometimes I think this gets a bit farcical – like "Get your hand away! Get your hand away!" Surely if his hand is in the wrong place the response should be a penalty, not an instruction to remove it. And if it's not a penalty, it's none of the referee's business where his hand is. Within limits, of course.

Sorry for straying off topic.

[passedit]

I have a simple rule of thumb, the more ref hops a ball the more useless he is. Never fails

[lynchbhoy]

What sort of a half-wit referee refuses to say why he gave a free and allows you to carry on making the same mistake? Talk about a Hitler complex.
Surely we should be going the other way and taking the example of rugby referees, who talk the players through everything. Though sometimes I think this gets a bit farcical – like "Get your hand away! Get your hand away!" Surely if his hand is in the wrong place the response should be a penalty, not an instruction to remove it. And if it's not a penalty, it's none of the referee's business where his hand is. Within limits, of course.
Sorry for straying off topic.

seamus mccormack please take note ! ! !

[bingobus]

Had a ref give against us in an Under 16 match this year. Haven't got an answer if he was right yet, so if anyone can help, many thanks. See below.

We won a penalty, took said penalty and scored it. Ref blew whistle and signalled a hop ball. Threw it up on 21 line and game went on. He said the reason for disallowing the goal was because one of the forwards had went too early and broke the 21 yard/semi-circle area.

Can't see this making sense. Should it not just be retaken, know this is the case in soccer and maybe that has mislead me. If a defender breaks it, retaken right or allowed if scored?

[AZOffaly]

Your man from Westmeath, Barry Kelly, did a good job of that at the weekend, or was it Brain Gavin from Offaly? Basically took the heat out of a few incidents by explaining why he gave the free, or didn't, and the players accepted it.

Players are adults, and if you treat them like adults you can expect them to behave as such, and punish them if they don't. If they are treated like children, and you don't explain or say anything to them, they will be a lot harder to handle in my opinion.

As regards the rugby refs, if they *didn't* let players know when they were infringing, there would be a penalty approximately every 30 seconds of play. The ruck and breakldown are very harum-scarum situations, and sometimes it's hard to see if you are onside, offside, etc etc from up close. The players rely on the ref to tell them when they are getting borderline.

[rosnarun]

several time in the meath Dublin game there was a schmeoozle after a free was given including one where an attacking  player 'shane ryan?) got booked but the free was allowed any way is this not the correct place for a hop ball to be given?

[Dinny Breen]

Why is it called a hop ball?

[AZOffaly]

Good question Dinny. And why is the 40 known as the 40? i.e. the man on the 40?

[David McKeown]

To get back to the original question.  We discussed this on an earlier thread about referees. My reading of the rule book is that a ball can be bounced before a free but not soloed.  This though is only in effect if the ref has blown the whistle to or otherwsie indicated the restart of the game.  That is to say that a ref is supposed to blow for a free and then blow again to restart the game.  This often does not happen especially with quick frees.  Although really only referees assesors seem to care about this.

As a say theres an earlier thread on this.

[Spiritof98]

off topic again but regarding hop ball, crossmaglen seem to have mastered it, ie if a free is given against them at a crucial stage in the game or scoring position a small row seems to break out. all the player does is hold the fella on the floor and small struggle breaks out and ref hops the ball. It really frustrating, but maybe thats craft for you

[Tyrones own]

I've seen Steven O'Neill solo a good few times at his set up to take a free,
never thought anything of it till this thread came up as i wasn't aware of the rule.

[CiKe]

lads, Tyrone v Donegal, penalty is given for throwing the ball by Paul Durcan. Couldn't here any of the half time analysis, but I could have sworn a penalty could only be given for a personal foul not a technical foul. Have I got that all wrong?