Question Number: 16318

Law 11 - Offside 8/15/2007

Dean of ottawa, Can asks...

i have been reffing for 3 yrs now and..

i was lining a u13 rep game the other day and an incident happened when an attacking team had 4 players in an offside position, but the ball was kicked forward passed the second last defender and an attacking player who was onside when the ball was kicked went to play it.

i didnt call an offside but the referee did. he explained to me at half that he called the offside because "the player who played the ball wasn't offside but the 4 other attackers were in an offside position so they gained an advantage from being in that position"

i was kinda shocked, i didnt agree with what he said.. the 4 attackers never played the ball or interfered with defenders.. so how is that gaining a advantage? did he make the right call and i didnt?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Well I don't know if the referee was correct or not. However FIFA defines "gaining an advantage from being in that position" as receiving a rebound from the post or the goalkeeper, or a block by a defender. That is the fairly limited view of FIFA as to the reason the referee gave you. According to you that did not hppen here.

He may have meant to say that he felt one or all of those players had become "involved in active play" (interfered with an opponent or played the ball) and if he believed that, even if you did not, he was well within his authority to make the decision he made. After all you both saw 4 players in an offside position, so he may have felt one of them did something to violate law 11.

I cannot comment as to who was correct however, as I was not able to view the play myself. Sorry.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee is the final authority on the field, no matter what the assistant thinks. That's a given.

BUT, the assistant referee is to tell the referee when an offside offence has happened, he does this by raising his flag. In this day and age the assistant must, in this particular case, to wait and see who touches the ball! The assistant knows it is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position and if the offside players are doing nothing there should be no sanction for offside. When he player coming from a position that is not offside gains possession of the ball the astute assistant will be very happy he didn't flag for offside!

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

With all due respect, was this center an old fart? One of the refs who have been around for ages, and is convinced that he knows the Laws, despite not opening a Law book in years? Who only sees recertification classes as a bother, not as an opportunity to learn?

Clearly his description does not go along with what FIFA wants us to do. You seem to have the concept straight.

I wonder, what was the reaction of the players and coaches?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Dean,
based SOLELY on your story of the explanation the referee thinking the 4 players were *Gaining an Advantage*by being offside positioned MUST have concluded they were involved by touching the ball after it deflected off an opponent otherwise it makes no sense. To say they had gained advantage because they were offside positioned is incorrect! They must TOUCH/PLAY the ball after a deflection!

Law 11 Offside Decision 2 part 3
? Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a
ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been
in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an
opponent having been in an offside position.

If they had of interfered with an opponent by forcing the opponent to go around them in pursuit of the ball or blocked the line of sight of the keeper ot tried to trick an opponent by faking they were going to play it then dummied it through then they could be guilty of interfering with an opponent

Law 11 Offside Decision 2 part 2
? Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from
playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the
opponent?s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or
movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts
an opponent.

ARs are instructed to ONLY raise a flag when 100% sure ! Judging by your description of events you followed the FIFA direction that when an onside and an offside player are in pursuit of the ball IF no interfering with an opponent is occurring we WAIT for a PHYSICAL touch of the ball to decide if there is an offside infringement.

It often irritates and seems unfair to those watching, (especially with no 2nd last defender in the equation) only the ball position determines when offside positioned players are no longer restricted from in involvement! When an onside teammate is the player who when next playing the ball or touching the ball dribbles the ball closer to the opposing goal line the four (FORMER OFFSIDE POSITIONED PLAYERS) could rejoin him and participate in play as offside is reset upon each contact with the ball by that onside player.

It is crucial to understand it is the moment of EACH contact point when dribbling the ball that reshuttles the positional requirements. Once the contact point is closer to the opposing goal line then the four are free to rejoin what has now become a 5 on keeper play. The onside player can drop the ball back or pass off to any of the four for a legitimate shot on goal.

You will see the carry point contact nearer the opposing goal line to reset the offside which allows immediate participation by former unavailable players, then moments later when the final pass away is redistributed they have again drifted into offside positions by not remaining behind the ball and will be flagged for the NEW offside phase they themselves may have put into effect.

As my colleague Ref Montanino pointed out we do not like to 2nd guess an event we did not see!
As an old fart myself I do understand the direction Ref Voshol
comes from as we are often stubborn and unwilling to bend but only the foolish refuse to learn that education is an ongoing lifetime event! I for one certainly lean towards your decision as one that I too would make! The referee has the FINAL authority His match! His decision! His reputation!
Cheers