Question Number: 22085

Law 5 - The Referee 9/26/2009

RE: Rec Under 15

Ben Chorpening of Morgantown, WV USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 21952

I refereed a recreational game today with club linesmen, which puts the burden on the Center Ref to call offsides in addition to fouls.

I noted that team A, which was more experienced and had an obvious size advantage, regularly had a player in an offsides position on the backside (away from the play). That player seldom became involved in the play, so as a result I made few offsides calls. But the player would always continue to follow the play toward the goal, and go back and forth between offsides and onsides as play developed.

I know this was confusing to the defending players, that I was not calling offsides more frequently. I also wondered if it was being done purposefully, on the hopes that I would miss the call while watching for fouls and other infractions closer to the ball, since I did not have trained AR's to help.

Any advice on how to handle this situation in the future? I found myself having difficulty tracking play around the ball while also keeping an eye on the opportunistic backside attacker.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Team A aren't doing anything wrong, so there's nothing you can do in that regard - and all you can do is remind Team B that you're not going to stop play if he doesn't get involved, and they should play the whistle.

So your problem now is that you're having trouble keeping an eye on him an an offside position and a potential foul closer to the defensive line.

Well, as long as you have an idea of his position then you don't need to keep too close an eye on him - if he's hanging way offside then that's pretty much all you need to know. The trouble is the risk of him running back onside without you realising. Really this is a problem no matter what the attacker's are doing - we need to monitor the potential fouls both where the ball has come from (late tackle), and where the ball is about to go while monitoring potential offside infringements beginning anywhere along the entire width of the field.

How do we keep an eye on all that?

My general advice is to get as wide as possible - this will help keep all the players on one side of you, thus potential fouls and potential offside infringements are all within your field of view. Of course, you also need to try and make sure you're not too far away from play or haven't put yourself into a bad angle for spotting fouls - and you need to make sure you're not going to be out of position if the ball is crossed to the far side of the field.

It doesn't necessarily mean travelling all the way to the touch line; you simply want to be wide enough to be able to maintain all players of interest in your field of view.

I'm reminded of the concept of 'Where? Where? Go!' - which helps us with positioning.

Where is play going to go?
Where can I go to get the best view of it?
Go!

However, we also need to throw in a couple of considerations, which are increasingly important when we don't have neutral assistants: we need to make sure we're able to spot late challenges, and we also need to have an idea of what players are potentially going to be involved with offside and how to keep a good view of them as well as any fouls.

It's difficult, and you need to be aware - but generally I think trying to keep this player on the same side of you as 'where play is likely to go' will help a lot - and to do this you may need to get wide. And this just may mean a lot of running.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I've been put in the exact same situation and can tell you it's a mistake to be so concerned with offside that you miss fouls and misconduct. Watch the ball and players and try your best to anticipate where the ball and play are headed. It's helpful if before the game you tell both teams and coaches that there's no way you are going to get every offside call correct but that you will do your best and be fair.