Question Number: 17898

Law 11 - Offside 11/12/2007

RE: Y11 Other

E of concord, nc usa asks...

Does anyone really know when it is offsides or not? Every referee calls is different. What is the real scoop?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

You have a penchant for hyperbole. Good referees know the law and they all apply it in a similar way. Sometimes referees make errors in judgment, but that has nothing to do with the way they would apply the law.

There is a paper written by Ref Fleischer on the front page of this website, please review it and there you will find the answers you're looking for.

Perhaps you think every ref is calling it differently, but is it possible that you have no idea what you're looking at due to your own ignorance of this great game?

Watch matches on TV every weekend and eventually you may learn something about the game.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Oh, but for heaven's sake, please, please, please don't listen to the announcers when they comment on calls by the refs, especially offside! They get it wrong, wrong, wrong 9 times out of ten, especially here in the States. Please do read the paper Ref Montanino mentioned, and also think for a minute about what the assistant referee is trying to do - run full tilt down the touchline to stay with the second to last defender and the ball, checking every 5 seconds or less to see if an attacker is in an offside position (their positions change everytime a teammate touches the ball), keeping an eye and ear out for who last touched the ball and when (if it was a defender, there is no offside) so you can freeze that moment, then stay with play to see if that guy that was in an offside position two seconds ago is the first one to get to a ball also being chased by a guy that was onside. Whew. I got tired writing it - just think of the hundreds of decisions an AR is making each time the ball is kicked into their end of the field, and then give them a little credit for getting it right far more times than they get it wrong and don't forget they are in position to make the call, not 40 yards away sitting in a lawn chair.