Question Number: 32328

Law 11 - Offside 3/22/2018

RE: Competitive Under 18

Aaron Speca of Virginia Beach, VA United States asks...

On this play, the player in blue is clearly ruled in offside position by the AR (on the other side, not in video) who raised his flag immediately, and the player in blue gets a clear touch on the ball. The ball does go out of bounds to white, and the CR decides to wave down the flag and have the restart be a throw-in for white. Wouldn't the proper restart be an IFK? I would think an uncontested IFK would be more advantageous than a contested thrown in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF9pZf0HoDk

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Aaron,
It is not clear to me from the video whether there actually was an offside offence here. There is a white defender of the side furthest from the camera and the angle of view does not allow an accurate decision to be made from the video. Even if the AR did raise the flag, the referee is entitled to overrule if he thinks the flag was incorrect.

If the referee decided that there was an offside offence but ignored it and gave a throw in anyway, that would not be the right decision in my opinion - but as I say, it's not clear to me that is what happened.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
If it was indeed offside then the only possible restart is an IDFK from where the Blue touched the ball.
The video is somewhat inconclusive and to be honest the CR should be taking the judgement of the AR on tight calls. The AR is positioned much better to see offside positioning than the CR.
Looking for reasons why he did not take the flag I might suggest that as the Blue player receives the ball in an onside position that the CR believe it was not offside? Did the CR opine that the ball was played by White in the challenge resetting the offside? Did the CR with no offside appeal and White looking to take a TI opine that it was the best decision?
Now if I was on my own in a game with club linos who do not do offside I would not be calling this as offside. It is way too tight. I also think that in Underage that some tight offsides are best ignored particularly when there is no benefit for the call. If the flag stayed down here would there be any debate about this?
For me all it has done is placed a doubt as to the ARs future offside calls and probably annoyed the AR who can see better than the CR as to offside positions. All sorts of things can be at play in such decisions including past offside calls.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Aaron,
Your reasoning is correct.
Watching the referee, I think he's asking the CAR if it's a Throw In - he gestures TI several times in the direction of the CAR - it doesn't look to me like he's overruling him, but that he's asking the question. He makes the TI gesture, then makes another hand movement which could be miming the line (an offside signal some referees use), and a TI signal again. I suspect that for whatever reason the CAR may have okayed the TI - perhaps there was simply confusion between the two.
As long as the whistle wasn't blown while the ball was in play then there's no law been broken by these action. Overall, my best guess here (without being able to see the CAR) is a miscommunication.