Question Number: 29073

Law 11 - Offside 12/27/2014

RE: Rec Under 19

George of Parangarecutirimicuaro, California Sacratomato asks...

This question is a follow up to question 29070

I was an AR in a U19 tournament in the last game for the day. Team A mustered all they could for a final attack. When a defender for team B intercepted the ball, team A retreated to their half of the field with the exception of their forward/wing who had given in to fatigue. You could tell she had no intention to challenge for the ball. She started walking back slowly walking along the touchline. Team B middle defender passed the ball to another defender in the direction of the offside player. The second defender, aware of the player in offside position, was not expecting a pass. When the ball arrived, the second defender made a last attempt to control the ball and ended up deflecting the ball to offensive player in the offside position. I immediately raised my flag for an offside call. I started to beat myself for the blown call. I even admitted to the benefiting team's coach that I had made a mistake. At the end of the game, the AR and the CR assured me that it was an offside, especially since the opposing coach did not complain. Was this an offside?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi George,
While it is pleasant when coaches do not complain, it was not an offside situation! The series of passes from the opposing team allowed the ball to be placed at the attackers' feet through no impetus or fault of her team mates at all! The ball was not last touched by the team mate, there is no offside, you were correct in thinking you were over eager on the flag and the CR and other AR need to refresh offside thinking into more current standards. This was a mistake made by the opposing team and although the position of offside is looked upon unfavourably it is NOT an offence to be offside positioned! Nor is at offence to BENIFIT from an opponents mistake while in an offside position! ONLY direct saves or rebounds/deflections off an opponent, AFTER a team mates touch has any bearing on offside.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi George,

Whether or not a team complains is no measure of how correct the decision is - I've even seen teams argue against the correct decision (which benefitted them)!

Offside occurs when a player is in an offside position when the ball is last touched by a teammate, and then subsequently becomes involved in play. That 'last touch' essentially refers to the same phase of play - ie once the attacking phase is over, then there's no longer any problem. Otherwise, an attacker once in an offside position will never be able to challenge the defenders for the ball. Not only is that not how the game should be played, but it would be impossible to referee.

Of course, there can be a defensive deflection between the 'previous' attacking touch and the ball going to a player in an offside position - but if the defence clearly controls the ball, the play is over. So here, the defensive team have controlled the ball (and not with immediate pressure by the offside player), so offside is not possible.

From the perspective of a referee's coach, it's interesting to note that immediately afterwards you knew it was the wrong decision. If you realised this before play had restarted, there was the option of advising the referee and potentially changing the decision to a drop ball. Regardless, when you reflect upon this, think about how you came to make a decision that you immediately knew was incorrect. It will always happen, on the line or in the middle, but if we reflect upon them we can hopefully minimise them.

Given it was the end of the tournament, perhaps it was fatigue (so how can you manage fatigue and hydration across a long day). Given it was the final, perhaps it was nerves. Perhaps you won't be able to identify anything specific, but worth thinking about to hopefully prevent the same situation arising in the future.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi George
As described you were in fact correct as there was no offside offence here. The ball was in control of Team B and a B player deliberately played the ball to a team mate that went astray to a player from Team A who happened to be in an offside position. It is not an offence to be in an offside position and **a player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team**. In this case it was played by an opponent so it cannot be offside.
This may have looked liked offside probably due to the blatant offside position of the player from Team A yet it concerns me that both your colleagues thought it was offside. Perhaps they were just being kind or maybe not as the CR should have seen that the ball was played by Team B so he should have waved down the flag and allowed play to continue.
It also shows how little knowledge coaches have in respect of the Laws and certainly in respect of Law 11.
Here is an example that I have shown on a number of answers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abds-p-57E&t=3m59s
It shows that the Green player played the ball to Blue who was in an offside position and the referee saw that which required that he allow play to continue by waving down the offside flag.