Question Number: 15353

Mechanics 5/2/2007

Kris Davis of Erie, PA USA asks...

I noticed that in most of the US soccer publications, they always show the flag signal for offside and goal kicks given using the right hand. If you are to signal with flag in hand of direction for kick why do they show the flag in the opposite hand. Which method is correct? To show flag in hand of direction or on offside and goal kick does it matter?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

As an old school student AR I was trained to stand sideways on a goal kick and face the field on an offside. For me a goal kick was always right handed where an offside was right handed but I was facing the field. Some referees told me I should not use my left because it blocked eye to eye contact. It was intermitant instruction that creates most issues. As Ref Fleischer points out if you train wrong it becomes a fixture and it is not easy to retrain muscles and instinct after years of incorrect practice.

Later after being informed to use my left I found I could maintain eye contact with referee at offside with no discernable issues of being blocked and the fact a waved flag in the right hand was a flag against the defence in favour of the attack and a waved flag in the left hand was a foul against the attack in favour of the defence. I was told to SNAP a flag and hold itstill to get attention when an offside occurred or a ball had gone in then out of play then in but to only raise the flag and wave it when calling a foul. On thrown ins if obvious I go directly to a 45% incline with the proper hand, If it was a ball in out in where I was to snap I lowered the arm to 45%. I was trained to carry my flag in the hand facing the referee thus as i ran towards goal it was in my left when I run away from goal it was in my right. When we switched diagonals it was the opposite of everything except we rarely did so!

cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The signal for a throw-in or foul is put in the hand corresponding to the attacking direction of the team that will take the restart. That's because this gives pertinent information - the direction of the restart.

For a goal kick or offside, the direction of play is known, so the hand used isn't important. Convention is to use the hand nearest the goal (the right hand if we are running the standard left-diagonal) because it usually gives the AR the best view of the rest of the field and players. If the flag were held in the up-field hand, it could block the AR's view of some misconduct happening after the stoppage of play.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

A few years back...assessors in WI were making a big stink about having the flag in the hand towards the direction of the restart on a goal kick. Now it seems to have been accepted that the flag can be in either hand and most have it in right hand.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

When the illustrations first appeared I asked the authors why they didn't take the opportunity to place the flag in the hand corresponding to the restart. The said it never occurred to them. Based on the illustration many instructors came up with suggestions as to why they were the way they were. Changing hands gives the assistant time to think. The restart is known so why worry. Your vision is better. It makes no difference. And on and on. All these excuses are classified, in my mind anyway, as so much bovine feces. To allow an assistant to flag in any hand she chooses in some decisions and demand she flag in a specific hand on some decisions offers too much chance for error when it counts. When players train they create muscle memory so their body does something in a specific manner each time. Why can't referees do this.

Assessors accepting an assistant flagging in the WRONG hand when procedure requires a specific hand is done all the time. The assistant is expected to call attention to foul play that happens in front of him. He is expected to flag and he does. At that point the referee MUST act on the information and the action can only be one of three things: Stop play, Play advantage or Wave off the assistance. If the flag is improperly displayed there exists the possibility the referee will not act on the information incorrectly, he will make an error. Many times I have seen something and played advantage with the assistant flagging with the flag in his right hand. I wave it off because of advantage. I find out later that the assistant saw something done by the attack that he wanted to stop play for. Yeah, right, so howcum the flag was in the RIGHT hand? His answer is always but but but... His muscle memory was insufficient to get the flag where it needed to be in the first place. It is all because US Soccer, in its infinite wisdom, never though about what they did nor how to undo it later editions of the procedures manual.

Yeah it's a little thing -- that is until someone screws the pooch by not thinking about which hand and it winds up in the one they used the last time. Then someone upsets the cartload of horse puckies..

Look at it this way: most of us can pick our nose with either hand, why can't we train ourselves to flag in either hand AND get the flag in the proper hand each time. The answer is because it is so much easier to make excuses for not being able to do it...

Regards,