Question Number: 15919

Law 11 - Offside 7/1/2007

RE: Competitive Other

David Tremblay of Hafrsfjord, Rogaland Norway asks...

A1 is in the center of the field in an offisides postion. A2 passes to A3 who sprints onto the ball on the right wing from an onsides position. The AR whips up his flag to mark A1 offsides who is not in the play at all. I am the R and immediately signal for him to put his flag down and to let play continue. Both coaches can see this but the coach for the defending team is of course screaming for play to be stopped. I let play continue and a goal is scored. Should I have stopped the play or was it right to let play continue?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi David,
well you as referee have the final say. You wave down the flag because in your opinion you know the flag at this point is incorrect and play continues BECAUSE defenders should know that play only stops on a whistle not a flag.

I can hope when you waved the flag down your AR immediately did so and that you flashed a thumbs up ok I got this one then later had a nice explanation and discussion at the post game or half time to rectify these situations from reappearing.

That said you need to have a better discussion with your AR on the finer points of involvement and that simply being offside positioned is not a reason to flag.

A raised flag that you decide to wave off is always a thorn of contention did you expect anything less since a goal resulted?

The AR and you will be a focal point of dissent because of the miscommunication and application of two viewpoints to the same incident. The fact yours is the one that counts is what you need to be sure of! Restart kick off and try to keep the cards in the pocket if you can. There will be some dissent and moaning. Be firm but fair when dealing with it!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jon Sommer

You are well within your rights to do this, and correct in doing so. As Ref Dawson says, the smile, thumbs up and later expalnation is the way to deal with this. Your relationship with your AR is key. If using the mic system, something like "He's not active, we'll play that" in his ear will go down fine. Maybe a deep analysis of what offside is needs to be your post game with him though!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Situations like this is exactly why the International FA Board included Decisions 1 and 2 in Law 11. Some referees and assistants have, for so long, understood an offside infraction to be what your assistant believed that afternoon, raising the flag is quite normal, perhaps even automatic, for them. In prematch instructions you must go over when you desire a flag for offside just to make sure, in the situation described, your assistants MUST wait for a touch from the offside player before flagging. At that point he has, without doubt, committed an offence, until then he was JUST in an offside position, something allowed in Law.

By the way, there's no "s" in offside...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You have the power to waive off a AR's flag at anytime. I would be cautious of this as the AR might have felt that an offside player got involved in play. Also, you do not have the perfect line of vision that the AR has either. If I had an experienced AR with me...I would probably never over rule him. If it was an unexperienced AR, then I might. Of course this is always up to the referee.