Question Number: 25527

Law 5 - The Referee 9/30/2011

RE: Intermediate Under 12

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 25308

Referee Joe McHugh said that outside the USA, a referee can decide not to call offside & play advantage. Does that mean that a referee in the US cannot play advantage if there is an offside?

I'm thinking of a situation where everyone is on the blue half of the field (except GK & a red PIOP). A teammate of the PIOP kicks the ball & PIOP touches it, but blue team immediately recovers it & goes on the attack. Would you play advantage...or is that just for violations of Law 12?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil
The ATR states that advantage is is strictly limited to infringements of Law 12. Other offenses under the Laws of the Game (e. g., violating Law 15 on a throw-in, offside, 'second touch' violations at a restart, etc.) are not subject to the application of advantage.
Outside the US a referee can use advantage if he believes that it is in the offended against team's interest to do so. Clearly when the ball is not put into play properly such as at a TI, GK advantage does not arise.
So I can wave down an offside flag and allow play to continue. In the US under advice from USSF that is not possible.
An example would be that a PIOP heads the ball and it goes safely back into the GK hands. The flag is raised correctly by the AR for offside. In Europe I can wave the flag down, play advantage and allow the GK to punt the ball forward if that is his choice and advantage is the 'best' decision.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It is true that the USSF restricts the use of advantage to Law 12 violations. However, many times things that look like advantage are really doubtful or trifling offenses which do not need to be called. For example, an offside player might have interfered with the goalkeeper slightly, but the keeper got the ball anyway - no need to call offside because the offense is trifling.

Other times, such as your example or the header by the offside player that Ref McHugh postulates, we are stuck with making the call.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

In the US advantage is only for Law 12 violations. USSF believes, as do I, that when advantage is given for violations of Law 11, there probably was no violation in the first place and the flag raised too quickly. If the keeper has the ball and the offside positioned attacker never get to the ball, he hasn't interfered with play and how could he have interfered with an opponent if the opponent has the ball in his hands?

The rare occurrence would be the one Ref McHugh cites and here we would call offside.