WTF is throw-in?

WTF is a throw-in?

When the ball crosses a sideline, the team that didn't touch it last restarts play by throwing it back in from that spot. Both feet stay on the ground.

Okay but how hard can throwing a ball actually be?

Harder than a professional athlete has any right to make it look.

The throw-in is the only time an outfield player can legally use their hands. That novelty alone should make it easy. These are the same feet-and-heads-only people who have trained their entire lives to not touch the ball with their arms. Give them a moment with their natural anatomy and they collapse.

The rule is simple. Both feet on or behind the touchline. Both hands on the ball. Ball delivered from behind and over the head in one continuous motion. Both feet touching the ground at the moment of release. That last part gets people. Soccer players are athletic. They jump. They leap. They lift a heel at the moment of release. Referee whistles. Other team gets the throw. The crowd groans like someone canceled Christmas.

You have seen this play out in basketball. Your point guard dribbles out of bounds. Other team's ball. The boundary is sacred. In soccer it works the same way, except the restart requires a specific throwing technique that grown adults routinely fail to execute correctly.

What is the wrinkle nobody tells you about?

You cannot score directly from a throw-in.

If your teammate hurls the ball directly into the opponent's goal from the sideline, the referee awards a goal kick to the defending team. It does not count. The ball has to touch another player first.

This sounds like a minor technicality. It has never mattered. It will never matter again. But now you know, and knowing things no one asked you about is a fine way to get through a soccer watch party.

The second wrinkle is tactical. Most throw-ins are forgettable. Ball goes out, ball comes back in, game continues. But throw-ins near the opposing penalty area are contested territory. Teams practice long throws specifically to deliver the ball into dangerous positions. Some players have a long throw as their entire identity. Rory Delap used to hurl the ball from the sideline like he was trying to get it to actually land on the other team. Premier League clubs built defensive strategies around one man's shoulder rotation.

That is not hyperbole. It is the sort of specific absurdity that makes soccer worth paying attention to.

Does anyone actually foul a throw-in?

Yes. Often.

The foul has a name. It is called a foul throw. When a player lifts a foot, releases the ball from the side instead of overhead, or fails to face the field during the throw, the referee awards possession to the other team. The player has to walk back to the touchline and watch someone else take it.

In the lower levels of the sport, foul throws happen constantly. In professional soccer they happen less, but they happen. A midfielder under pressure rushes the motion. One foot comes up. The crowd makes a specific noise somewhere between pity and derision. That noise is universal. You will recognize it immediately the first time you hear it.

Still confused?

You are not confused. The throw-in is the simplest restart in soccer and you understood it forty seconds ago. The part that trips people is that it has rules, and the rules apply to everyone including the professionals, and the professionals still get it wrong sometimes.

Watch the sidelines in the first half. You will see at least one foul throw. You will know what it is. You will watch the referee point the other direction. You will feel the quiet satisfaction of a person who did their homework.

That is the whole thing.

If you want to understand what happens when the ball goes out at the end line instead of the side, the article on goal kicks and corner kicks at wtfis.soccer covers exactly how that works.

— The Scoreboard