Question Number: 33445

Law 11 - Offside 6/14/2019

RE: Rec Under 16

Doug Crawford of Oakland , California US asks...

Hello fellow refs. This offside was ruled not offside and a good goal after VAR in Womens World Cup Australia vs Brazil 6/13/19 at about game time 65:35 in the 2nd half.

It is about 3:50 in this video and this looks the same as what we saw a few times on TV during the game broadcast:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GvjlL9j_LsU

The player in an offside position Australia Yellow #20 did bump into Brazil Blue #14, the Blue player closer to the goal the time of ball arrival., about 12 yards in front of goal. I thought Yellow #20 was trying to get the ball.

Blue #14 did not get to touch the ball but in my view she was trying to defend the goal, from both Yellow #20 as well as the incoming ball. If she was not bumped into she would have been able to follow the ball better and clear it.

The goal was scored off an accidental header by Blue #21 who was under a yard farther from the goal than Yellow #20 at the time of ball arrival. Blue #21 did not seem to be affected by Yellow #20.

When we look to see if the PIOP is involved in the play, by touching an opponent, i.e., interfering with play, I thought I could consider most physical contact with most of the defenders nearby as affecting play, not just the individual goal scorer and the one defender closest.

I know the referee may have seen other things in real time that we cannot see on replay. I dont have any axe to grind on Aus v Brz - Brazil was sometimes lazy and unnecessarily held onto the ball when they could have passed, sometimes losing the ball as a result. Good passing and trapping beats fancy feet most of the time.

Anyway- have I been calling offside correctly?
Thank you as always. Doug.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Doug,
Please see our answers to the earlier question 33444. In addition to the reasoning given there, I should point out that challenging an opponent when this does not directly affect them in terms of playing the ball, is not an offside offence. It could potentially be a foul - although of course, in this case it was not.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Doug ,
we did a decent job on this question earlier but in real time grassroots football chances are this gets called out of historical preference rather than exactly how the LOTG are stated today. The OFFSIDE player did not interfere with the defender's choice or impede her from moving to or away from the ball.
Cheers