Question Number: 19953

Law 11 - Offside 9/15/2008

RE: Rec, Comp Under 13

Jeffrey of Saratoga, CA USA asks...

Question on AR offside mechanics which occurred to me recently.

One White player (say W1) is in an offside position 5 yards into Red's half when the ball is cleared by White (say W2) with a long kick from White's Penalty Area. The ball is chased by W1 and two red defenders; when W1 reaches the ball I flag the offside. By this time W1, the ball, and I are 30 yards into the Red half (because I am following the play and ball and/or 2LD).

Two questions:
1. Having raised the flag for offside, should I wait for the whistle to indicate position (assuming I don't get a wave-down)? I have assumed I should wait for the whistle, but the Guide to Procedures says 'indicate position if the Referee makes eye contact' (which is indeed what happened, without a whistle).

2. Assuming the Referee whistles for offside, should I now run back up to the original W1 position (5 yards into the half) before signaling position? I realize that in most cases the difference (between the original position of the attacker at the pass, and the position where the player became involved) will be trifling, but in the case of the long pass it seems like it could turn an IFK from a clearing kick into an attacking opportunity.

(Sorry if this question has already been asked - i couldn't find it).

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The location for the restart is W1's original position 5 yards from the half, at the time the ball was last touched by his teammate. You will have to go back to that position to indicate it. If the referee looks confused by what you have called, you can give the offside near/mid/far flag signal at the place you were when play stops; them move back to the restart place and show the signal again.

Your question seems to indicate that W1 was the only attacker involved. In that case, you do not need to wait for him to actually play the ball. Give him a couple steps to realize that he was offside, but if he continues to run toward play after that, put the flag up. This saves all the players a bit of needless running, and wards off a possible confrontation or collision when the players get to the ball. We only need to wait for an actual touch on the ball if there are both onside and offside positioned teammates who might get to the ball. You might also consider that W1 was interfering with one or both of the defenders.