Question Number: 26099

Mechanics 3/26/2012

Kevin Slator of St. Paul, MN USA asks...

When signaling for offside, how long is the flag held when the referee does not see it immediately?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kevin
The flag should be held until the referee sees it. Now if the flag has been held up for a time the advice is that the flag can be lowered when the defending team gains clear possession of the ball or a goal kick or throw-in is awarded to the defending team.
In a game that I was assistant on recently the referee missed an offside flag. The ball then went back to the goalkeeper who caught the ball and he was keen to progress with a punt and the CR turned away to head back down field without noticing the flag so I simply lowered the flag. I could have stood there with the flag raised and I suspect the CR would have waved the flag down had he seen it anyway.
What should not happen is that the attacking team benefit from the unseen flag and the flag should be held until the referee deals with it.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The signal should be held 'until it doesn't matter any more'. Essentially, that is until the other team gets possession of the ball in at least as good a position they would have had the offside been called.

As a ref, I tell my AR's to keep the flag up until I respond to it. It's not them that look dumb, it's me. I should have seen the signal.

As an AR, I have had times where the ref misses my signal. If it becomes important that the ref should know about it, I have no problem of shouting out the ref's name.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The other time the flag should be dropped is if play has restarted, such as if it has gone out for a throw in and the throw in taken.

Like Ref Voshol, I have no problems with calling out to the referee if he continues to miss it. Some will say you shouldn't, but I figure that shouting out looks less unprofessional than the breakdown in teamwork that has already occurred.