Question Number: 30816

Law 11 - Offside 9/25/2016

RE: Professional

Haji Hussain Jan of Muscat, Muscat Oman asks...

I am the ref and and i think my AR is not judging offsides well. he raises flag and i know its not an offside. Can i avoid his flag and prior my decision?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Haji,
The final decision is always the referee's. When the AR raises a flag they are simply presenting an opinion: 'I believe an offside offence has occurred'. So you can overrule it - I recommend do it as soon as possible, preferably with a fairly discrete hand signal (a small motion up and down with your hand, in a 'put it down' gesture should be enough). No need verbalise it, but if you think players are being affected then you can tell them to 'keep playing!'
Overruling the AR is often not well accepted by the defenders and it can undermine the team image you are trying to present, so you don't want to do it unless you are absolutely certain it's wrong.
Why do you think your AR is getting it wrong?
As a referee your AR will always be in a better position to judge offside than you are - and they are looking for the offside, while you are more looking at the ball and players. There are many times when, as a referee, I'm thinking 'how was that offside?' or 'How on earth wasn't that offside?' - but I just have to trust in the abilities of my AR. And almost every time, when talking with them after the match and hearing the explanation it sounds like they were correct.
But on rare occasions I have overruled my AR. Only when I am absolutely certain.
Usually if I overrule the AR, it's because the flag has gone up but the player didn't end up being involved in play, or the defence has taken possession. Those ones are fine. It's when I'm disagreeing with the AR on offside position that it's tough - and I've only done that a couple of times in my entire career, and only with very inexperienced AR's who had shown through their decisions that they were getting it very wrong. In those cases I also adjust my positioning and the way I watch the game to monitor the offside line myself.
I may also consider it if I'm sure it's offside and my AR is not even close to being in the correct position.
As an AR I've been overruled a few times - each time the referee was clearly and definitely wrong (and that's not pride - it's just highlighting the risk of overruling the AR).
Of course if you have a club AR instead then overruling is a lot more understandable as they are less likely to get offside correct, but again I'd only overrule if I was 100% certain.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Haji
the following is a brief statement with an example from USSF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beFY-IF6ahQ&app=desktop
Here is an example of a referee overruling an offside flag by the assistant referee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abds-p-57E&t=3m20s
The referee correctly sees that the ball was last played to Green to the player in an offside position so it could not possibly be offside. The CR discreetly waves the flag down and correctly allows play to continue from which Blue score.
The problem that the erroneous flag caused for the game is clearly shown with Green 4 expressing heated comments to the AR which IMO should have been a caution for the player. Some Green player stopped playing because of the erroneous flag which is a schoolboy error. Alway play to the whistle.
So the referee always has the final say. If he believes that the offside flag is in error then he waves it down and play continues. Expect though to have to deal with rancour as a result.