Question Number: 32307

Law 11 - Offside 3/14/2018

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello,

the ball goes into space, where is alone teammate in offside position. The referee raises the flag. At this moment is this player 10 metres (or 20, 30) away from the ball.

Where is the spot of the restart?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Petr,
well it is the AR raising the flag at 30 yards as the CR I likely wave him off! I suspect the opposing keeper could get there as well.

The offside LOTG dictate that the PIOP MUST be INVOLVED in active play as interfering with play or interfering with an opponent.

Unfortunately there is one discrepancy within the current LOTG that is actually in conflict with the REASONING of interfering with play (a PHYSICAL TOUCH OF THE BALL) and that is IF a PIOP is in pursuit of the ball that has ABSOLUTELY no chance of exiting the playing field into touch or for a goal and he/she is the ONLY player from either team doing so we can ASSUME that there will be player/ball contact based on the point of probable interception and an early flag apparently or my best guess is to save the time given it is MOST likely to occur.

In my opinion given interfering with play involves a physical touch. I award the INDFK from about where I think the touch would occur. Others where the AR flag is. Others somewhere in between. In truth it matters little as offside restarts are rarely blade of grass orientated Personally I think they should remove this from the LOTG and permit the runner to tire themselves out as the benefit to the opposition is free ball possession once he gets there. The added advantage is as a tactic a PIOP could pursue the ball, the opposition think oh goody but he runs past or stops without ever touching the ball as the rest of the team continues to attack. Which is WHY the defenders should ALAWAYS defend & never stand with their arm in the air asking for a bathroom break.
CHeers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
The Law is mute on it. From the higher levels it appears to be the location of the PIOP and by default the location of the flag. That is likely to be where the PIOP interferes with an opponents or close to interfering with play. Rarely if ever do we see ARs moving position after such a flag.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Petr,
We seem to have had this same question a couple of times recently. In terms of the restart position, assuming the referee whistles for an offence, I would have to give the same answer I gave last time, which was:

''For me, when this happens, the most logical position to give the kick is where the player was when the AR decided to flag. However the law does not specify one way or the other.''

I would agree with ref Dawson though, that if the player is 30 metres from the ball, I might not whistle straight away and might eventually wave the flag down, especially if the PIOP does not get any closer to the ball or interfere with an opponent.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 32311