Watching a soccer game a few nights ago I decided to ask some 'soccer experts' two questions I have long had about the game...
1st Question, and amazingly I got an answer to this one.... when the goalkeeper gets control of the soccer ball how long can they simply hold onto it withOUT putting it back into play? I've seen goaltenders hold the ball what seems to me an exorbitant amount of time... so I wondered.... at the end of game, (or any time you have a lead), why not just hold the ball until the games ends? The answer 'seemed' obvious to me... "Delay Of Game"... BUT.. not once, not ever, have i ever seen that called... until this last game... where I didn't actually see delay of the game called BUT I did see that there is a Delay of Game penalty... happened this way. The goalkeeper was holding the ball a LONG time... turned to a guy who I thought might know the answer, asked, and then a short time later the head Ref blew his whistle... it was a 'warning' and it meant - "put the ball in play now".
2nd Question no one at the game could answer... no one has ever been able to answer this question. When the ball goes out of bounds and the team awarded possession inbounds by tossing it back onto the field of play just how far beyond the point where the ball went out of bounds can they run before tossing the ball back into play.. I've seen players run 'YARDS', make that "METERS", beyond the point where the ball went out so I've wondered - why not just run the entire length of the field before inbounding the ball. I'm sure you aren't allowed to do that BUT... never saw a foul called.
You won't win anything for answering that 2nd question, sorry, but I will give you a high five and grant you the title of 'most knowledgeable soccer fan on the planet'. - JamesJM
