Free kick situation

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by tomes1978

He was not blocked out of bounds....he was out of bounds all by himself....but yes, it was obvious he knew he was out of bounds as he picked the ball up and did not try to run or anything.....

Did he wait to play the ball until he saw it come to rest? So the ball was at rest with no player attempting to play it? And the only player who tries to play it is one who was already OOB? Then ignore his touching it; this is a kick that's come to rest in the field of play with no eligible player attempting to play it. R's ball at that spot, no foul.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Did he wait to play the ball until he saw it come to rest? So the ball was at rest with no player attempting to play it? And the only player who tries to play it is one who was already OOB? Then ignore his touching it; this is a kick that's come to rest in the field of play with no eligible player attempting to play it. R's ball at that spot, no foul.

For a kickoff to be at rest, I would have to see nobody coming after it since it's a ball that can legally be recovered by K. Even a player coming at a distance is going to get my benefit of a doubt.

In other words, my guess is that it wasn't sitting there long enough for me to make that ruling.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Rich

For a kickoff to be at rest, I would have to see nobody coming after it since it's a ball that can legally be recovered by K. Even a player coming at a distance is going to get my benefit of a doubt.

In other words, my guess is that it wasn't sitting there long enough for me to make that ruling.

Over to you, Tomes. Did the other players hold up? Or was the player of R taking it so as to deny the possibility of possession by K?

[tomes1978]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Over to you, Tomes. Did the other players hold up? Or was the player of R taking it so as to deny the possibility of possession by K?

No players were holding up. K was well aware it was a live football and was coming hard for it! The R player purposely stepped out of bounds picked the ball and stood there.

R, like everyone else in the stadium, thought that kick was going to go out of bounds. It seriously hit the ground and took one small bounce and laid right there about an inch from the sideline. It was crazy!