Wall management

Let’s talk a bit more about FK wall management. When there is a wall and the attacking team has 2 or more players ready to take the kick, our awareness needs to go up. This is because the defensive wall often moves closer to the ball as soon as the first kicker is about to take the free kick. If the first kicker does not take the kick and the second player ends up taking the kick, the wall may be much closer to the kick than 10 yards.

Watch the example below. The referee, in general, did a good job setting the wall 10 yards away from the free kick location (this was an IFK inside the penalty area). But as soon as the first attacker pretends that she would take a kick, the wall encroaches. As a result, by the time the kick was actually taken, the wall was not even 5 yards away from the kick.

In this situation, the referee should have awarded another indirect freekick. Unless the offence is repeated or is tactical in nature according to the referee, a caution is not needed.