Question Number: 29917

Law 5 - The Referee 11/13/2015

RE: Adult

Duncan Mitchell of Ipswich, QLD Australia asks...

Attacker passes the ball to a team mate in an offside position, the linesman immediately raises his flag, BUT the ball hits a defender on the leg and the passer of the ball recollects it, The defence stops because the flag has been raised, the attacker passes the ball into the penalty area where a team mate puts it into the net. The referee awards a goal. Is this a correct decision ?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Duncan.
I often repeat this important educational FACT in almost all incidents involving flags raised and players halting in their tracks as a response!
BLOODY DUMB!
NOT SMART!
TOTALLY GOOFY!
WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
SERIOUSLY????
As a coach I could BENCH any player who stopped playing at a raised flag for the simple reason the FLAG means absolutely nothing to a player!
The FLAG is a SIGNAL from the AR to the referee. PERIOD!
PLAY TO THE WHISTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The CR will decide to stop play or wave off the flag and continue play. A flag is NOT a player's concern. You ATTACK or you DEFEND, even after the ball goes out of play. As Sherlock Holmes would say the GAME is afoot.

. Your description of the ball impacting against the defender sounds like the defender made no deliberate play no save, thus it was a simple deflection. A deliberate play that is not a save will reset offside for the opposition although in this case that fact is irrelevant as the original ball carrier was onside the entire time!

The fact the original onside ball carrier reacquires the ball off a rebound from an opponent off his own pass, he is still onside still free to score

I point out a simple fact here, a deflection of the ball or a deliberate save by an defender does NOT change the opposition's status if they were adjudged as PIOP or if they were ONSIDE whatever restrictions or non restrictions were in place REMAINS the same

We do not KNOW why the AR raised the flag. But that fact is between the AR and CR! There may have been an intended recipient of the team attacking who was destined to receive that 1st pass that the defender intercepted and the AR incorrectly raised the flag too early thinking he would play it!

It is conceivable that when the flag was raised the AR thought an PIOP(player in an offside position) had interfered with an opponent elsewhere on the field? Again who cares? As a player you defend until you attack and vice versa.

The criteria of offside was looked at the time of that first pass that was defected by the opponent. and once again when that same attacker recovered then passed the ball across to a team mate. Every touch of the ball offside position is reviewed. If the teammate who scored was NOT offside positioned on the pass across into the PA (penalty area (the goal is good because in the opinion of the referee there was NO infraction, no offside! The team that scored did nothing contrary to the LOTG before the ball had completely crossed the goal line under the crossbar and between the posts of their opponents while play was ongoing. Result is GOAL and KICK off!

Could the CR have been in error and the AR correct? Possibly, but as a FACT of play is does NOT matter. If after a consultation with the AR, if even the CR decides to do so! ITOOTR a goal was scored

Our Australian referee Jason Wright from down under dropped the video in for us too se. The AR flags TOO quickly the CR was 100% correct to allow play to continue. Dismal defending by inept defenders
https://www.facebook.com/sportdigital/videos/10153759231698130/


Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Duncan
Underage players from the moment they start the game are told to PLAY TO THE WHISTLE. That is only one way that play is stopped and never on a flag. The assistants flag is to convey an opinion to the referee ONLY that there may be an offence such as offside etc and 99.999 % of the times the flag is taken with the referee stopping play. If however in the opinion of the referee he does not agree and believes that the flag is erroneous then the referee will wave the flag down and play will continue.
In this case the referee deemed that the touch by the defender was either a deliberate play or that the player in an offside position did not interfere which then negated the offside flag. Whether the referee was correct or not is a matter for the referee. As play has not ben halted by the referee the correct decision is to award the goal.
Now one can ask whether the ARs flag interfered with the defenders and no doubt it did because the defenders allowed that to happen. Play to the whistle and it does not arise.
Have a look at this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beFY-IF6ahQ&app=desktop
Correct decision was to award the goal
Here is another video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abds-p-57E&t=3m26s
The referee has seen that Green played the ball to the Blue player in the offside position so Blue could not be offside and the referee correctly allows play to continue by waving down the flag which the AR does. Green 4 and 5 stop playing as they see the flag and incorrectly think that play will be stopped. Underage player error and the referee was 100% correct to award the goal. Green 4 should have been cautioned for dissent and told by his coach to play to the whistle.
Addendum
Our esteemed colleague Referee Wright has shared with us the incident. I have now seen the video and it was NOT offside. A Red Melbourne City player was in an offside position. That player much like the two other Melbourne City players that were in offside positions in the centre of the penalty area did nothing to affect offside. When the ball was played by his team mate he realised he had moved into an offside position and stopped. Red #12 then ran on to his own pass off the deflection off the White Western City player so that could not be offside. Now the AR in his eagerness to flag did so too soon and the referee correctly realised that there could not be an offside so he allowed play to continue. I think the situation was compounded by the AR as had he dropped the flag as quickly as he raised it when Red #12 ran on to the ball he might not have drawn as much attention as he did.
Now even the commentators got it right and saying that it was not offside nor should players stop until the whistle sounds. One says that Red did not stop because of the flag should why should White.
Now the disappointing bit for me is that the players in the last two videos took grave exception to the ARs. Both put up the flag and it was the referees that allowed play to continue and the goals to count. Were they sore that they put up his flag thinking it was offside? If they should be sore at anyone it should be in the first instance themselves for stopping and secondly it was the REFEREES decisions to allow play to continue. It probably points to the fact that they knew it could not be offside and silly underage errors.

Could it have been avoided. Clearly yes and the learning point for ARs is that a LATE correct or no flag is always 110% better than an early incorrect one. ARs here would be significantly marked down by the referee observers for these errors and it could affect their appointment to other games

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Duncan,

Thanks for your question.

As a keen follower of the A-League (I'm not a supporter of either team though, so I'm neutral here) I'm familiar with the incident in question.
Over the last 10 years or so there have been numerous changes to the Offside law with the intention of making it less likely that an offence has occurred. For an offence to occur, the attacker must be actively involved in play by interfering with play, interfering with an opponent, or gaining an advantage from being in an offside position. The last point is strictly defined as collecting a rebound off a defender, goalkeeper or goalpost/crossbar (so don't take 'gaining an advantage' literally, the meaning is highly specific here). 'Interfering with play' means touching the ball. 'Interfering with an opponent' means preventing the opponent from playing the ball - eg, blocking the keeper's view (we saw that in the previous week), being in a defender's way, or challenging for the ball as it's coming in and physically blocking him, or being right in his face as he's receiving it.

In the incident you're asking about, the attacker didn't touch the ball, so he didn't interfere with play or 'gain an advantage'. Did he interfere with an opponent? Well, he didn't prevent the opponent from challenging in any way or get in his way. Sure, his presence probably affected the decision of the defender, but that's not enough for an offence any more. Even if the attacker in an offside position draw a defender out of position, that's still not enough. A defensive decision based on the position of the attacker in the offside position is no longer enough for an offence. It may seem unfair at times, but that's how the law is written.

The defending team should know to play the whistle. I'm always amazed at the response of players who stop upon the AR's flag - play the whistle, everybody knows that - yet everybody seems to ignore it. The AR's flag is nothing other than him telling the referee that he thinks an offence has occurred. The whistle, not the flag, is all that really matters.

However, the AR should not have flagged. This is a classic mistake from an AR who is pre-empting what's going to occur; the AR should have waited for the attacker to touch the ball. So while he made an incorrect, early flag, the referee did well to recognise this and overrule him.

The correct decision was made in the end.