According to the FIFA rules the ball has to actually roll. Some teams/coaches are stubborn about to just "tap" the ball and then the second kicker does his thing. Some referees allow it, some don't. What's the official interpretation?
2018/2019 LOTG http://www.theifab.com/laws Page 114 has your answer. "The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves...." A "Tap" is not a "kicked and clearly moves" and should not be allowed. I have seen players that lightly kick the ball and it moves very little but it moves just slightly more than a Tap. This is only a guess, but I would think that referees that allow the Tap view it as a trifling violation, or they are not aware of the LOTG change, or they just don't have the courage to stop play and have the team do it correctly. Honestly if the players have any decent skills and the coach has had them practice Indirect kicks, there is very little difference between a Tap and a very light kick.According to the FIFA rules the ball has to actually roll. Some teams/coaches are stubborn about to just "tap" the ball and then the second kicker does his thing. Some referees allow it, some don't. What's the official interpretation?
The law is mostly for clarity I believe. Everyone from the players to the spectators should know, oh its in play now. Remember the ridiculous "trick plays" on corner kicks and IDFK where one person would tap/brush the ball, and everyone would either be oblivious while the next guy dribbled/shot the ball... or the defending team would notice and then run at it and the attacking team would touch the ball with their hands and move it 1 inch to signal that they were still looking for the perfect blade of grass to balance it on.In the instance that you are concerned about- do you think the outcome would have been different had the ball “rolled” a little bit more?
Did the defending team react on the tap? Or were they waiting?
And what age are we talking about?