Question Number: 24385

Mechanics 11/28/2010

RE: Professional

Steve of Stockton, CA USA asks...

Once again, Mark Clattenburg provides grist for our mill, but in fairness to him, this was a tougher nut to crack than the Nani goal against Tottenham.

In the Arsenal v. Aston Villa match on 27 November, Aston Villa's Ciaran Clark scores a goal despite the fact that John Carew appears to be guilty of an offside infraction. Replays showed that Carew was clearly in an offside position, and also clearly showed that he is clearly obstructing the view of Arsenal's keeper, Lukasz Fabianski, who can be seen leaning to see around Carew. Carew is also clearly not attempting to play the ball as it comes into the area.

At game speed, however, the clarity becomes somewhat muddled. Since Carew makes no attempt to play the ball, the AR may not realize that Carew is interfering with an opponent (by blocking Fabianski's view). And since Clattenburg is upfield and behind the play, he is not in a position to determine whether Carew is in an offside position. Therefore, neither member of the officiating team has all the information - that is, knowledge of both Carew's POSITION and INVOLVEMENT - the situation requires, and therefore they err in allowing the goal.

Mechanically speaking, the referee would look to the AR when the ball enters the goal. The AR, seeing that Carew makes no play for the ball but not seeing that Carew is interfering with an opponent, makes eye contact with the referee and sprints up the line. The referee, seeing the AR sprinting up the line, concludes that Carew must not have been in an offside position, and points to the center circle. Both of them see what they see without misinterpretation, the mechanics are sound, and yet together they make the wrong call!

What, then, is a good, well-disciplined officiating team to do?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Steve
Good question. First and foremost these situations need to be discussed in the prematch meeting between match officials. Ultimately it is the referee that makes all calls and he is assisted by the ARs. In the pre match the referee should advise the ARs what he expects
If the AR is certain that that the player in an offside has interfered with an opponent then the flag is raised. The advice in the US is that if the AR is unsure whether the PIOP has interfered with an opponent or not then he should not move from his position but stand still in that position after the goal is scored. The referee, when he sees this rather than the sprint up the line, will then be aware that there is something amiss and he should then approach the AR for a discussion and agree the correct call.
Outside the US the AR will simply raise the flag in both situations and it is up to the referee to decide whether to accept the flag or not.
Secondly it is very difficult, without the PIOP moving out of the way of the ball, for AR to make the offside call against the PIOP in these opponent?s line of vision situations due to his angle of view. In this situation it is clear that Carew was guilty of offside yet I suspect that would not be plainly obvious to the AR as Carew did not make any discernible moves either to avoid the ball or to play it. The AR would not have seen the goalkeeper's difficulty in seeing the ball and had he done so I suspect he would have flagged it. I also believe that the referee without the flag and no movement by Carew simply seen this as a shot with seeing the goalkeeper's problem of seeing the ball.
In all situation good communication is key between the officials.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

I'm surprised the referees at this level are not miked, but as Ref McHugh suggests, there are mechanics which would lead to at least a discussion between the members of the referee team as to the correct call. The AR should have had a idea that Mr. Carew while definitely in an OSP was also possibly interfering with the keeper, in which case he can certainly raise his flag, and leave it to the referee to sort out. At that level, raising flags usually means you are 100% certain there was an infraction.

It could be that the AR followed to the letter the instructions given in the pregame, and sometimes, no matter how good the crew, there will be errors. C'est la vie.