Question Number: 14948

Law 11 - Offside 3/6/2007

RE: High School

Daniel of London, Ont Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 14907

The flash video from FIFA defines "nearer than"

For the most part, your answers talk about how difficult it is to judge whether the head, torso or feet are indeed nearer than at the moment the ball is played.

My question was meant to clarify the law as it pertains to the definition of "nearer than" I agree that if in doubt don't signal. There are however situations where it is clear that the head, torso or feet are nearer than, at the moment the ball is played.

My concern is that a situation where the attacking players head, torso or feet are nearer than, the AR may still not flag for offside because they have not fully understood what nearer than means. Or, the AR is afraid of the wrath forthcoming as a result of such a close call.Or they are giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player. It is this fine line that separates the correct call from the non call.

For me, it has more to do with educating players and coaches. Especially when an offside is called because the attacking players " Head" was nearer than, even though it looks like the rest of the body is level. The judgment is further complicated by the timing of when the ball was played, "can you be absolutely sure that the "Head" was nearer than at that specific moment?" When you are absolutely sure that the "Head" is indeed nearer than, the flag must go up. Otherwise why have a FIFA flash video that clearly shows the flag go up when Head, Torso and feet are nearer than!

I wish to thank you for your learned comments.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Some great comments here. I agree that we should not flag unless we are 100% confident it is offside. As AR's we need to keep a close eye and look for any "body part" of the attacker that can legally play the ball (not hands and arms) that is closer to goal line than defender. Of course this is going to be close, but we must use perfect judgement, be in the correct position, and have the fitness necessary to get to where we need to be. We need to approach the AR with the same vigor that we approach the referee because evaluating offside can be trickier.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If it is clear, then the POSITION phase of offside is ratified, so when the INVOLVEMENT occurs, the AR raises the flag!
If it is not clear, then when in doubt do NOT wave it about!

Those that choose to find reasons not to follow the laws be they afraid , uneducated , inexperianced or plain wrong do the game a disservice and themselves no credit to the neutral integrity an official must have to be FAIR to both teams.

As my colleague indicates the AR by virtue of position, anticipation and fitness as well as understanding the laws makes the decision when the offside infringement occurs!

If the AR can not anticipate what might occur, is too tired to get into position, makes up his own version of the laws then as referee you will likely be working a great deal harder in the match to keep players and coaches from freaking out and be as frustrated with the AR as anyone else watching.

While we can tolerate an inexperianced AR. Work on training an eagar AR willing to learn to become better. If the AR is useless because of his choices and his attitude and is unwilling to accept your directions ,then choose to remove him from play and find one who will make the effort and show concern for getting it right and getting better!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You are making a case why poor ARs that do not understand offside are a detriment to the game. Any AR that is fearful of crowd or player response to a flag raised or not, should not be on the field. You know this.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Bottom line is the assistant MUST be EXACTLY at the last, but, one player or he will never get the offside decision correct. There are those few assistants that will accept the challenge and be there; then there are the guys you write about.

Once you have the assistant in the right place the offside decision is obvious, unless he has no clue what the Law states or has his own ideas about what offside means. That is the guy we can train to be better, the guy not in the right place and having his own ideas is a lost cause. When he's your assistant, do the best job you can, get it right and tell the captains he's pathetic and you aren't going to take his advice cause he's out of position most of the time.

Regards,

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

See Question: 14961