Question Number: 30861

Law 11 - Offside 10/5/2016

RE: youth to adult, comp and rec.

Barry Stewart of Chilliwack, BC Canada asks...

Offside question:

I was reffing a youth game on my own the other day and an a attacker was standing well-offside, on the end-line near the edge of the 18. His team-mate passed to him but it slightly deflected off a defender. Off-side was not reset, in my opinion.

As the ball arrived at the offside lad, I blew the whistle for offside JUST as he let the ball go through his legs and over the end line.

His team was winning handily, so he wasn't too concerned -- but he made the point that since he hadn't touched it, it could have been a corner kick for his team.

Was I too hasty on the whistle? Should I have waited a split second to see what would happen? There were no other players near him, so he wasn't challenging anybody or interfering.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Barry
It is my opinion you were too hasty with the whistle. As you know it is not an offence to be in an offside position. Offside happens when the player in an offside position interferes with playing by touching the ball or interferes with an opponent by challenging an opponent or affecting line of sight to the ball. None of the conditions were met so it should have been a corner.
Sometimes by whistling early or flagging early the referee or assistant gives the PIOP the offside decision so he can chose to ignore the ball and therefore not complete the offside offence.
If the referee waits until the condition is met there is no issue. Perhaps here the PIOP would have thought that the touch by the defender was not a deflection and played the ball. The issue does not arise.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Barry,

Based on the questions you ask, I suspect you have already correctly analysed the situation yourself. With the current offside law, it is better to apply the 'wait and see' principle. In this case, the player did not interfere with play or gain an advantage as defined in law 11 (since he did not touch the ball) and based on your description he did not interfere with an opponent either.

So no offside offence occurred and yes, it should have been a corner kick.

In case it makes you feel any better, I think this is a mistake that had been made by almost all match officials at least once (if not more) in recent years. In fact I still see it happening almost every week in top-level professional games, that AR's flag early and the player ends up not touching the ball. I guess the ingrained habits of many years take some time to unlearn.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Barry,
we are often directed to wait and see. In cases when it IS unclear that a ball might exit the FOP before being played you most certainly wait and see but then too it was not uncommon to blow when only 1 OPP is in the mix, running after a ball that they seem certain they WILL be touching it. I think NOW that offside ONLY occurs from WHERE it the actual ball touching or player interference occurs it is best to wait till this occurs as THAT will be the spot of the infraction. Unlike earlier LOTG that placed it where the OPP was prior to the last teammate touch.

If the AR flags early it warns the OPP not to touch it, the CR then has a decision to wait or go with the flag hard to make an accurate judgement from a position looking down field , not across as the AR has.
Cheers