Question Number: 15462

Law 11 - Offside 5/13/2007

RE: Rec Adult

Marc of Perth, WA Australia asks...

Hi
I occasionally run the line for my son's under 13 team but have got myself confused.

If an attacker is in an offside position when the ball is played then I understand that is not an offence in itself. If that attacker then starts running to receive or chase the pass made when he was in offside position, has he then become active or does he only become active once he has made contact with the ball? Should I flag immediately to let the ref know once he starts running to collect the ball or only when he has the ball? Different referees seem to have different ideas and I need clarification.
Thanks
Marc

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Flag as soon as he should be penalized. In other words, flag when you have ruled that he has become involved in play. Remember though just because the ball was kicked in his direction does not mean that he has become invovled in play. Usually you wait until he actually touches the ball. Or if he impedes an opponent's body or vision of ball. Main thing is not to get to flag happy and be PATIENT.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I read what you say as you help out when there is no assistant referee. That makes you a club linesman and usually offside is not something a club linesman should be getting involved in BECAUSE you are not neutral, you have some bias. This and, most probably, you are not trained and licensed as referee could offer the opponents basis for protest of decisions made.

Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.

Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent?s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.

Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Mark. As a club linesman you should only be signalling when the ball goes out of play. Period. Leave offside calls to those that have taken and passed a referee course. What you ask is a good question. You NEVER raise your flag to signal the center referee that an offside player may about to be involved in play. The only time the flag goes up is when there is no doubt as to involvement. SHould you wish to referee I'm sure your local club would welcome you to take the introductory course!

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Perhaps Australia has the same tradition with club linesmen as exists in England. There many teams have a person associated with the team who has received some minimal amount of training, and is the person the team calls upon when a club linesman is needed. Because these people are used regularly and have had at least some training, they are given powers beyond what the club linesmen in the US have - including calling offside.

The relatively new Decision 2 to Law 11 says, "Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate." However, we have also been instructed that it is not necessary to wait for the player to touch the ball when it becomes apparent that the offside player will be the only player able to get to the ball, or if it appears that a collision is possible between this player and an opponent.

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

See Question: 15482