Question Number: 32311

Law 11 - Offside 3/15/2018

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

This question is a follow up to question 32307

I found two similar situations from Champions League match AS Roma vs. Sachtar Doneck.

Video:
http://footballfullmatch.com/uefa-champions-league/roma-vs-shakhtar-donetsk-13-03-2018/

First in time 35:30 (1st half): The referee moved his position to restart.

Second in time 40:50 (1st half): The referee remainded in the place where he raised flag.

Why did he decide differently? Your opinion please. Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Petr
solid effort attention to details, understanding the LOTG, proper training, teaching correct positioning, anticipation & experience with a little speed and luck put most ARs in the right position to make a good decision. You move with the 2nd last opponent trying to keep your head on a swivel and an ear out for the sound of the contact, hard in a stadium of screaming people . Here both decisions 100% correct. He moves with or stays with the second last defender UNTIL the ball itself is the offside marker or the ball dictates in or out of play.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
I do not see any issue here. On the first one it looks like the defenders might drop off so the AR anticipates those moves and moves with them. The ball is then played through and the AR is on the move so he sees the ball being played and raises the flag.
On the second one there is little backwards movement by the defenders so the AR is not on the move and he makes the offside call from his stood position.
So both decisions are correct and I would have no issue with those. If on the first one the AR did not anticipate the move by the defenders and had the ball NOT been played through he could have been out of position to judge offside on subsequent play.

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