Question Number: 12318

Law 11 - Offside 3/7/2006

RE: Competitive, high school for several years

Darryl of any town, California USA asks...

I reviewed the offside guidelines provided by Chuck Fleischer on your web site as well as regularly reading answers to numerous questions sent to your group. I have learned much from your comments and experience. I would like you thoughts about how I have called 2-3 specific offside incidents that were very similar in nature. Games were either competive league games (age 14 above) or high school which I was CR.


I will try to condense the scenario but it may not paint a goode picture:
-first, attacker B is definitely in an offside position (which unto itself does not make it an offense.)
-Attacker B is directly in front of the goal between 6 and 12 yard line area and is charging forward.
-The goal keeper is highly aware of attacker B as well as attacker A with ball
- Attakcer A is in penalty box between the end points of 6 yard line and is somewhere behind distance wise compared to Attacker B .
-Attacker A strikes ball at goal,
and then I make determination whether to call offside in this situation. ( One point I consider is it better for defending goal keeper if successful in stopping ball with ability to punt ball at front of penalty box vs. free kick from offside infraction location.)

A mentioned by Chuck's article, there is a penalty only if involved in active play by:
i) interfering with play
ii) interfering an opponent
iii) or gaining an unfair advantage.
In the few incidents outlined above, Attacker B is very active (in my opinion) in the action in front of net however I don't know if you can say emphatically that Attacker B directly physicdally interfered the goal keeper. However, I feel that attacker B has gained an unfair advantage in that the goal keeper has to keep track of two attackers and positions himself (herself) accordingly watching both, 2 attackers. The goal keeper does not know B is offside position. If attacker B was onside (a defender who hopefully defends B) then goal keeper is focused on attacker A with ball.

In discussing with other refs with much experience, it is a mixed bag. There are those who say unequivically no offside since B did not touch ball and did not physically obscure the goal keeper line of sight to A; others who feel that goal keeper disadvantaged/attacker B gained advatnage by being in that position.

AS with any case, you have to be there to actually make the call etc. Yet, I would appreciate your thoughts. If I am clearly in the wrong, I will mend my ways.

thanks

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Darryl we are speaking of a classic situation with offside. The goalkeeper is paid to stop the ball from entering his goal, yes? The attackers are paid to defeat him and get the ball in the goal, yes? The referee is there to ensure both play within the rules (Laws of the Game for the rest of the world). As soon as the goalkeeper starts looking away from the ball or judging who is and who is not offside he stops doing his job. Same with his defenders when they raise their arms in an attempt to call the referee's attention to an offside player or to dry their deodorant. They all need to do their jobs, prevent the opponents from scoring and let the referee do his.

US Soccer offers this: "Touching the ball is not a requirement for calling an offside violation if the attacker is interfering with an opponent by making a movement or gesture which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts that opponent." If the offside player does this he has committed an offside infraction. If he is offside and in the keeper's line of sight he has committed an offside infraction. If the keeper feels he needs to look around, away from the ball, and fails to stop a shot on goal he has no leg to stand on IF the offside player does not interfere or is not in the line of site.

The goalkeeper being disadvantaged is not a criteria for judging offside! This is an excuse for him loosing a goal because of a lapse in concentration on his part. The offside player MUST be active in some way (causing a defender to move with him) or physically blocking the keeper's line of site to have committed an offside infraction. Those referees saying the offside player gained an advantage by being there are wrong because gaining advantage means touching the ball after it deflects off the crossbar, goal post or an opponent if he was offside when the ball was last touched or played by one of his own side.

Finally Darryl you must remember that more experienced does not necessarily mean more knowledgeable. Just because someone has been a referee for eons does not mean he understands or does it right; it means nothing except he has been at it for a long time. If he has not attended training, not been assessed or studied he is a prime candidate for allowing preconceived notions or incorrect assumptions to influence his decision making. Offside is one of the Laws that is readily misunderstood because people think it is complicated. It is not complicated in the least, it is black and white -- either a player is in an offside position or he is not -- either a player interferes or he does not. It is so simple that people can't take it at face value. If you're offside you can't contribute, if you don't contribute play continues.

Your question is a very good one. It shows understanding beyond those with much experience. It is proof positive that time does not breed understanding, only education and asking the question gets a correct answer. Then lastly, having the courage to "Crap, I got that one wrong and I need to change". The old guys that say he didn't touch the ball or didn't get in the line of sight of the keeper so he isn't committing an offside infraction have got my vote on this one.

What did you say?

Regards, C.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 12371