Question Number: 30345

Law 5 - The Referee 4/26/2016

RE: cat-2 Adult

john nongsiej of shillong, meghalaya india asks...

if a player from team A is foul and the referee was applying advantage but his teammate A was offside .What decision should the ref give Foul or Offside?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
As there cannot be advantage due to the recipient being offside the foul should be called. Now let us say that the referee plays advantage and the fouled player continues playing for a short while and he either looses the ball or plays it to a player in an offside position then the referee may not go back due to the length of time that has elapsed. The foul has to be called say within 3/4 seconds.
The principle though is that the fouled against team should benefit not the offending team so if there is no advantage then obviously it should not be played. Rarely do teams at lower levels berate the referee for calling a foul.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

Hi John,
a foul that demands a free kick is occasionally excused if there is a subsequent definitive advantage not to stop play because an opportunity to score or continue attacking play is in fact better than the free kick that team SHOULD have had. We can even delay the showing of a card until the next stoppage should that advantage be realized. If you think carefully about your question what advantaged can the team that was fouled gain if they have to give the ball back for an indfk to the opposition for an offside violation? That would be zero! It is essential a referee grasp the situational awareness of the whole incident & not forget what foul was done by a poor choice of a pass or the redirection a ball takes after a rebound off the fouled player who may still be under the effects of the foul and trying to recover balance, momentum or control.

Of course this decision is one that occurs within the time a referee is determining if an advantage is possible.
A mistake or a poor decision to pass a ball to an offside team mate once the referee determines an advantage WAS realized is a squandered opportunity which is a huge difference than the initial redirection of a ball to an offside teammate where no advantage is possible.

from our pitch to your pitch in the spirit of fair play

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the only 'advantage' the referee sees involves the offside positioned player, then there is no advantage to be had and the ref should stop play for the foul.

But if there are several options and the player takes the bad one (the offside positioned player) then he's had his advantage and squandered it. No different than if he had a good advantage and shanked the kick wide.

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