A&H

Offside tips ?

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If a ball is put through and an attacker is running through, and you think it's 50-50 or offside by a very small margin, it's almost certainly NOT offside. Proven using flashlag studies.

Assuming the defence are stepping up, thst is
 
Refereeing ain't an exact science, nor is it rocket science.
It comes down to human error (or not) at the end of the day.

If you're unsure or it's 50/50, I'll always err on the side of caution based on a damage limitation ethos.

Rightly or wrongly, in spite of whatever the sanctimonious and pious contingent on here might think, it's worked for me in several instances (not just potential offside) and the same approach is being used week in week out by other referees. :cool:
 
I used to be the one out of the fixture card to be left with no Ars. Either because nobody wanted to work with me, (imagine that), or, I was happy enough without.
Each time I turned up to a certain place, the captain would do his, how are you, etc, and "i see you brought no linesmen, what if we lose an offside goal?"
to which I replied, "well, what if you score an offside goal?"


as above, 50/50 call, am going to give the offside. even prob 70/30 tbh. We need to accept we wont get it perfect, we can just do the same as the players on the park, and that is, the best we can
 
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If over 90mins am asked to make 10 offside calls for the same team, it would prob break down as 6 I was sure of, 3 I will go defensive if am unsure, and 1 I will go attacking if am unsure of

of course that's not set in stone but cant be far off the rationale.
 
If over 90mins am asked to make 10 offside calls for the same team, it would prob break down as 6 I was sure of, 3 I will go defensive if am unsure, and 1 I will go attacking if am unsure of

of course that's not set in stone but cant be far off the rationale.

Sounds about right for an average game.

It's all "in the moment" though so I just go with my gut.

As already stated, letting a potential offside go generally has far greater consequences for the defending team than flagging it does for the attacking team.

If you work off of the basis that by being unsure/50/50/unsighted, you've already made an error, then why compound it by potentially allowing a match-changing event (ie goal) to occur.

Sensible refereeing for a better (grass roots) game.
 
Refereeing ain't an exact science, nor is it rocket science.
It comes down to human error (or not) at the end of the day.

If you're unsure or it's 50/50, I'll always err on the side of caution based on a damage limitation ethos.

Rightly or wrongly, in spite of whatever the sanctimonious and pious contingent on here might think, it's worked for me in several instances (not just potential offside) and the same approach is being used week in week out by other referees. :cool:
Some good points there and it would work for some situations and I appreciate that. However offside is a different matter for me. It is an exact decisions. You are either right or wrong. There is no 50/50 offside (or 50/50 ball in or out). They are factual/exact. You would want to give yourself every chance to get that decision right as an AR by using techniques many of which are mentioned in this thread.

I agree that there are times that it is very close and humanly impossible to be sure. My opinion differs to yours when it comes to those. For me calling an incorrect offside is just a bad for the attacking team as is calling an incorrect onside for a defending team (allowing an illegal goal is just as bad as disallowing a legal one). So how safe the decision is not my mind. I'd go with likelihood. That is, "I'm not sure but it's more likely onside/offside because of Y, Y and Z".

Of course above is on offside position. If you are sure on offside position abut not sure of interference etc then you always flag and let the referee decide about the offence.
 
I'm going to take this back to advice for a new ref. First, do everything you can to be sure. If you can't tell, that means he was even, which in the modern laws means on (that changed around the 80s). Be prepared to explain that: "nope, he was even with the defender at the moment the all was played"--you want both parts of that in your explanation. Players, coaches, and fans are typically looking a moment after the ball is kicked, so the explanation is a reminder that to them that you were the one paying attention at the time that matters.

Be wary about flagging when you aren't sure of actual involvement. May be something to discuss with the R in the pregame. In the US the standard protocol is that if you aren't sure of involvement, don't flag: if a goal scores, stand at attention to signal the referee that there might be an issue with the goal, and then discuss whether that involvement occurred with the R.
 
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