Free-Kick Formation and Encroachment

The kicker initially placed the ball sideways on the tee. He then approached the ball in a manner that appeared to initiate the kicking action, stopped, and repositioned the ball upright on the tee. During this action, one of his teammates crossed Team K’s free-kick line before the ball was kicked.

Could you please clarify the following?

  1. Is the kicker permitted to place the ball sideways, approach the ball in a manner that appears to initiate the kicking action, stop, and then reposition it?
  2. Once the ready-for-play has been given, does this action affect when the restrictions on Team K begin?
  3. When the Team K player crossed the free-kick line before the ball was kicked, should we have called encroachment?
  4. If this is encroachment, should the official immediately sound the whistle and administer it as a dead-ball foul, or allow the kick to continue and treat it as a live-ball foul?

1. Sure. Of course delay of game comes into play. 2. Yes on encroachment. Not on moving players around. The foul still doesn’t happen until the ball is kicked, so a timeout saves them. 3. Yes after the ball was kicked. 4. Under our experiment, allow the kick.