Question Number: 31599

Law 6 - The Other Match Oficials 6/13/2017

RE: 300l High School

Gerald Ebuka of Owerri, Imo Nigeria asks...

Is the referee ever allowed to overule an off side Call from the AR.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Gerald
Yes by all means. AR are there to assist the referee yet it is the referees decision to accept the flag or not.
There can be situations where the AR has missed something and has flagged for offside. The referee if he sees that it is in error should wave down the flag and indeed must allow play to continue
Have a look at this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abds-p-57E&t=3m20s
The assistant referee thinks that the ball is played forward to Blue in an offside position yet the referee clearly sees that it is a Green player that plays the ball to the opponent which cannot be offside. The referee clearly allows play to continue and overrules the ARs incorrect flag.
My colleague Referee Dawson has given some other good example of referees overruling an assistant referee much to the ire of the conceding team. The referees were correct in doing so and fully supported in Law.
The old adage of Play to the Whistle applies. The referee is the ultimate decision maker and AR only give advice or an opinion to the referee. He can decide to accept it or not depending on the circumstances.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Gerald,
the CR is still the FINAL word on any match decision.
The AR is self explanatory to assist the centre referee!
All hail the video referee for anew wrinkle into the decision by the CR

An AR raising a flag is publically stating their opinion something happened contrary to THE LOTG & is asking the CR to stop play so it can be dealt with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beFY-IF6ahQ

NO player should EVER stop playing because an AR raised a flag to signal the referee for that is ALL that it is. ALWAYS play to the whistle!

The CR can chose to disregard the flag because he is aware of something the AR is not or has a different opinion on the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n16DG8rE97w

Now if the CR & the AR error on the decision we now have the introduction of the video referee at the elite level in time possible for the 2018 Russia World Cup

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/03/28/antoine-griezmann-denied-video-referee-corrects-two-offside/

Not to dissuade the referee has final say when a video assistant referee is used. According to the VAR protocol, the relevant parts in this regard are as follows:

''2. The final decision will always be taken by the referee.
3. Video Assistant Referees (VARs) are match officials - any information the VARs provide to the referee will be treated by the referee in the same way as information received from an assistant referee, additional assistant referee or the fourth official.
[...]
6. Only the referee can initiate a review; the VAR (and the other match officials) can only recommend a review to the referee.
[...]
Once the review is initiated, the referee has the option to:
- make a decision based only on the information received from the VAR or
- review the footage directly before making a final decision (on-field review - OFR)''

According to the protocol, the OFR should only be dispensed with ''for factual decisions such as the position of an offence or player (e.g. offside), point of contact on the body for handball or a foul etc''



Cheers