Question Number: 35125

Law 11 - Offside 9/29/2023

RE: Adult

AEK Fan Club Of NY of ASTORIA, NY USA asks...

Several Questions from the video linked below:

1. 0349 team in blue scores a goal. The referee with the assistance of VAR and offside line claim offside.
Team in Blue said the lines were placed wrong. Instead of being on the player that scored, they were placed on the player that was offside.
what is your opinion of this, was it offside and were the lines placed wrong?
Based on the explanation provided in question 32302, I would expect the lines to be correct as the player is interfering

2. 05:48 Team yellow is awarded a penalty. Team blue is not saying anything about the penalty, but they are saying there was a handball prior to the penalty. what is your opinion


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJwsXj9AcRQ

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

AEK
1st incident absolutely NO GOAL, not even close, 100% offside, interfering with play o exactly as you called it! Well done!
2nd incident again good decision. Offside is indeed a simple yes or no by the body position be it a single centimeter or a single meter. Freeze frame cameras, it is what it is! What handling? Referee was a few meters away from the transition at midfield use of the shoulder perhaps to bring the ball to ground? I could not determine anything wrong in the buildup . Clear PK once the offside question was answered by the VAR as all good!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
1. On this incident the offside occured when the player in an offside position interfered with an opponent that was the goalkeeper. He may even have played the ball which is interfering with play yet the challenge on the goalkeeper for the ball is sufficient for offside purposes alone. The line is correctly drawn using the player that interfered not the player that scored who was likely at the time in an onside position. The scorer was NOT the offside offender. It was the attacker who challenged the goalkeeper for the first ball through that was called for offside.

2. On the second one I do not see any deliberate handling situation. If there was contact on an arm it was questionable and if there was whether it was deliberate or not. As pointed out by Referee Dawson the referee is well placed and he does not see anything untoward. We know that with the *silent* check VAR reviews all questionable situations in the lead up to a goal. It is never good when a clear offence is shown as part of a goal and it is not dealt with by VAR. If there was an clear obvious error such as missing deliberate handling VAR would bring it to the attention of the referee to review it on-field. I don't see that happening here.
I might add that players all the time look for handling when the ball makes ANY contact with an arm. That is only penalised when it is deemed deliberate or when a player scores in the opponents’ goal directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental or immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental. I do not see either here in the video shown.

In summary I’m happy with both situations and the decisions are correct and to be expected as the proper use of VAR.