Question Number: 33181

Law 11 - Offside 3/24/2019

RE: Pro Professional

Samba Muleya of Choma, Southern Zambia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 33176

Zambia vs Namibia disallowed goal played on 23/03/2019 afcon qualifier assistant referee signaled for offside because he regarded the player(defender) who has been lying down nearer to him AR for some good number of seconds as not to be the second last defender.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Samba,

https://www.lusakatimes.com/2019/03/24/zambia-vs-namibia-goals-highlights/

This was a terrible decision. No other way to describe it.

As stated in 33176, the defender lying down doesn't mean they're out of the equation for offside. That defender still counts. It may seem unfair to the defence - but if that defender didn't count, then that means the 'offside line' suddenly moves some 5, 10, 15 yards up field to wherever the next defender is. Meaning the attack that the opponents structured no longer works and players could instantaneously be placed in an offside position. That's not a fair approach at all - and if we didn't count this defender, then that would actually encourage defenders to stay down feigning injury. So, that defender counts.

What I find most amazing is that both officials got this one wrong. We all accept that AR's make mistakes. For instance, the AR could be so focussed on the ball that he's forgotten about the player lying down. In that instance, the referee should have seen something odd, discussed it with the AR, and overruled the offside flag. This is only possible if the whistle wasn't blown until after the ball enters the goal - looks like that part is true. Even if the AR misunderstood the law (completely unacceptable at this level), the referee should have corrected him.

In short, this error required a major mistake by 2 officials. In all honesty, even the 4th official could have discussed it with the referee if they saw what was happening (though they could have been talking to the benches at the time).

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Samba
This looks like an incorrect decision to me. As mentioned in the previous replies, the injured defender should still be counted for the purposes of offside.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Samba
Let us assess what happened from what we can see on the video.
1. The defender goes down injured and appears to fall over the goal line.
2. The ball is cleared away towards half way.
3. The AR moves out to the location of what is the 2nd last opponent
4. The AR is totally focused on the play as it unfolds.
5. When play gets back in the defender is now laying on the FOP.
6. There is no clarity as to how he got there?
In these injury situation with players off the field of play Law 11 was amended to deal with situations where a defending player has left the field of play without the referees permission the player will be considered to be on the goal line or touchline for the purposes of offside UNTIL the next stoppage in play or until the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area.
Perhaps the AR used this change to not factor in the injured player into the offside calculation based on his original fall down off the FOP. Before that change there was no doubt that the player had to be considered for offside.
Had there been no possibility of the injured player being on the FOP at any time then he would not have been factored into the offside calculation once the ball was cleared away.
From the final position of the injured player on the field of play the goal should not have been ruled out for offside.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Samba,
astute observation as this clearly is a muddy situation. The offside decision is in my opinion incorrect based on the position & actions of the defender . If the defender had REMAINED off the FOP given the ball was successfully cleared out towards the mid line he could be considered as a non participant based on the possibility he was in fact injured and REMAINED off the FOP up until the goal was scored ! No one likes to see cheap goals occur but given how much fakers exists withing the game to exaggerate the serious of an injury or to draw a foul we really need to be 100% sure we are not creating unfair situations and taking away good goals. . The injured defender would not have been factored into the offside calculation once the ball was cleared away if he had remained off the FOP. Given he had returned back into the FOP he became the 2nd last opponent once again.
Cheers

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

See Question: 33191