Question Number: 23018

Law 5 - The Referee 3/27/2010

RE: AYSO Rec Under 11

Mike of Chino Hills, CA USA asks...

A defender pushed the attacker from behind inside the penalty area. I blew the whistle for the foul. The sideline yelled that the Assistant Referee had indicated offside. I looked over, and the AR had his flag down. I thought about conferring with the AR. However, I seemed to recall that the greater of the fouls were to determine the restart. I went ahead with the PK.

If the AR had raised his flag for offside just prior to the foul, should I have awarded an IFK to the defenders instead of a PK to the attackers?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Mike
It is the offence that happened first not the more serious that determines the decision. It is only when two offences are committed by the same team simultaneously that the referee punishes the more serious offence. That rarely happens though and neither does it happen that players from opposing teams commit fouls at the exact same time which has a dropped ball restart. It is always best to make a call on what offence happened first. So in this case if the AR had the flag up for offside, before the push, then the restart is an IDFK to the defence.
The referee can still take disciplnary action against a player that commits misconduct after play has been stopped and the free kick has been awarded. The misconduct could be a "heavy challenge" on a opponent after say an offside has been awarded.
This is what the Law states
"" More than one offence occurring at the same time
# Offences committed by two players from the same team:
? the referee must punish the most serious offence when players commit more than one offence at the same time
? play must be restarted according to the most serious offence committed
# Offences committed by players from different teams:
? the referee must stop play and restart it with a dropped ball from
the position of the ball at the time of the stoppage, unless play was
stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped""

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The 'punish the most severe' applies when there are simultaneous fouls, not when there are other infringements such as offside. Instead, the question is did the foul happen before or after the offside infringement.

It's easy to determine when the foul occurred. Deciding when the offside law was infringed depends of when the player in offside position (PIOP) touched the ball or interfered with an opponent. If the referee accepts the assistant referee's indication that the offside occurred first, then the restart should be an indirect free kick for the defense.

Note: these situations confirm why an assistant referee must wait for participation in play by the player in offside position. An early flag leads to a difficult and controversial decision for the referee.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

A foul against an offside player is not, I believe, a typical situation to consider a simultaneous foul.

Chances are, either the foul or the offside happened first. Was the offside player involved in active play by touching the ball or interfering with an opponent first? Or was the first encounter with the opponent the foul (in which case I wouldn't consider that interfering with an opponent, instead I'd penalise the push).

Of course, even if the AR had indicated offside, there's a chance it may have been an early flag raised before the player was actually actively involved with play.

It probably wouldn't have hurt to confer with your assistant referee, and from that you would have tried to found out exactly what happened then made your decision on whether the player was actively involved in play first.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the offside-positioned player was the one who was fouled, then most likely the offside occurred first, interfering with an opponent.

If it was another player that was fouled, then most likely the offside offense hadn't happened yet, as the offside-positioned player did not yet participate in play. So the foul happened first.

As the text with diagram 4 on page 103 of the Laws states, 'A player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or touching the ball, if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.' Calling it early can prevent a collision or foul such as in this case.

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

See Question: 23062