‘Both feet on the floor, properly behind your head.’ The words that are repeated by referees across youth football every weekend. Taking a proper throw is all part of the learning process as a young footballer, although Arsenal fans will tell you that it’s something former Gunner Hector Bellerin is still struggling with.
Under Law 15 of the IFAB’s Rules of the Game, the player must throw the ball with both hands from behind and over the head from the point where it left the field of play.
To put it simply, a professional footballer should be able to take a proper throw in. But since the start of the season, more fans across Europe have noticed officials turning a blind eye to foul throws.
For example, game week 5 of the Premier League saw West Ham United host Tottenham Hotspur. After Spurs took the lead through an early own goal from summer recruit Thilo Kehrer, the Hammers equalised with a powerful Tomas Soucek strike. However, in the build-up to the goal, it was obvious to see that right-back Vladimir Coufal had committed a foul throw by throwing the ball down and past his head.
Tomas Soucek celebrates West Ham’s equaliser against Spurs (Image Rights: West Ham United)
Spurs supporters were clearly asking the question of VAR’s intervention in the goal, as well as how the referee and linesman didn’t spot an obvious infringement in the first place. With VAR seemingly nit-picking every moment in games, foul throws have seemingly been ignored, despite still being a foul.
With teams like Manchester City retaining and keeping the ball for large periods of a game, opposition teams could gain possession through an incident such as a foul throw if referees were more eagle eyed to see an infringement, although you would like to think that Pep’s serial winners would know how to take a throw.
Back to Arsenal. In their tussle with North London rivals Tottenham for Champions League football, Arteta’s men travelled to St James Park in the second last game of the season.
In the second half, left-back Nuno Tavares committed a foul throw which was spotted by Darren England and a Newcastle throw was awarded. This decision culminated in Newcastle scoring the opening goal of the game through a Ben White own goal.
Although it might seem minor and unimportant, this just proves that noticing a foul throw can impact the course of not only a game, but seasons to come, as was the case with Arsenal on this occasion who failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Ben White diverts the ball into his own net after Newcastle gain possession through a foul throw (Image Rights: Newcastle United)
To clarify, referees do spot foul throws. Across the 2020/21 season, 20 foul throws were recorded in the Premier League. Ironically, Arsenal made up for a quarter of them, with the aforementioned Nuno Tavares committing 3 of them.
The issue is that there should be much more foul throws awarded. A professional footballer should be able to take a throw in, and it seems that the referees in the league share that expectation of the players, which would explain why more players are getting away with horrific throw-ins that wouldn’t even be seen at your local park on a Sunday morning.
Most games see a lazy leg come up, or a player throwing the ball down in order to restart quicker, with referees seemingly focused on ‘more important’ aspects of the game. This is something that is not likely to change in terms of rules, but recent incidents show that even the most gifted players cannot take a throw.
