Question Number: 30467

Law 11 - Offside 5/30/2016

RE: Intermediate Under 13

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30462

I have a follow-up question to something that Referee Dawson said: 'if the offside position was adjudged to have occurred first then the holding would not be punished as the INDFK restart for interference with an opponent takes precedent.'

Suppose that Ramos was adjudged to be offside, but the header by Bale was toward the other side of the goal.

1) Do you think that most referee's would just ignore the shirt tug on Ramos as trifling, especially since it didn't impact the play?

2) Suppose the header went to the other side of the goal, but no goal was scored. If Ramos had actually been pulled to the ground and since he would not have interfered with an opponent (being too far to clearly impact the play), would a referee call the foul...or just ignore it?

Thanks again,

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil
The player is either offside or not. If he is offside first then that is the offence that is called. If he is not offside then the holding can be called.
Now I suspect your question relates to whether it Is offside or not. I believe that if the PIOP is so close to a defender and involved in active play then one must opine that it is interfering with an opponent. If the player is adjudged to be not interfering then holding can be called. Fouling a player who is in an offside position is called as a foul if there no offside offence.