Question Number: 22508

League Specific 11/13/2009

RE: rec Adult

alex of richmond hill, ontario canada asks...

Regarding the offside dispute in the chelsea goal against man u, what would the panel say about whether it is offside offense due to interfering with play from the angle of somebody sitting in a couch watching tv? I think it might be difficult for the AR to determine from his angle whether there is any interfering with play but the striker sticking out his foot trying to poke the ball in might be a clue. It would be good if you can give me your opinions so as to give me some guidelines if I encounter similar incidences in the future.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Alex
I believe that Man U had no real complaint about the possible offside rather the fact that Wes Brown was pulled back by Didier Drogba.
As regards offside I'm not sure that Drogba was beyond the rear foot of the 2nd last Man U defender when the ball was headed on. Even if he was his movement IMO did not deceive or distract Van der Sar sufficiently from trying to save the ball. He continued his dive for the ball. In fact the flight of the ball did not change from the initial Terry header and Drogba' s position certainly did not obscure the keeper's view.
Unlike 'interfering with play' and 'gaining an advantage by being in an offside position' ,which both require contact with the ball, there is a huge element of subjectivity and opinion in 'interfering with an opponent'. In the case of the offside positioned player making physical contact with an opponent and preventing the player from playing the ball along with standing in front of the player obscuring his/her view, those are usually pretty clear but distraction and deception is all together different. For distraction to happen here I believe that Van Der Sar would have had to react to the assumption of contact on the ball by Drogba and that is not obvious.
On balance I believe the offside call was very questionable and to disallow the goal would have been harsh for that reason.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Man U has had its fair share of bad decisions turn out in their favour at the very least as often as a bad decision went against them. I recall the Man U keeper catching the ball well inside their goal and the AR too far away to be sure but the video was clear, the ball was well past the goal line under the crossbar between the posts but the on field officials missed it, play continued. As in any decision we as armchair referees make, we do it with time, slow motion, rewind, multi angles of view and no consequences or pressure. The match referee is at a considerable disadvantage to make informed decisions without all that extra stuff we rely on.
In any decision it is the match referee or AR to see what they see and to make the decision based on integrity, neutrality and an understanding of the laws of the game!
We can always have an opinion that there was a foul, that perhaps the nearest body part was a smidge closer at the critical moment when offside position was required to be judged but your sense of foul recognition, your angle of view plays the deciding role on match day, speculation as to what we might do is just that! You need to be in a position to see the away from ball stuff as well as the on the ball stuff and you trust your ARs. They must know their job and be diligent in their positioning to get it right because as referee you are not too often in good position to effectively judge offside! A good referee effectively manages the match by anticipating what could occur in as much as get to the best angle to see what did occur!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The angle of view is critical to making the right decision. The referee team doesn't get the benefit of 16 cameras, slow motion and replay.

The most important instruction on offside, however, is this. If in doubt (about offside position, interfering with play, or interfering with an oppoent), keep the flag down.

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

See Question: 22541