The Ref Stop

New Offside Interpretation - An Update

K

Kieran W

Well-Known Member
Just received this from my RDO today:

Please note that this new guidance is intended for the level of football that assistant referees regularly operate (Supply League and above). If a County FA have any leagues that operate with ‘Neutral Assistant Referees’ then this guidance should also be implemented.

It is imperative that referees operating at grassroots level, where they operate alone, do not try and implement this, as grassroots leagues, clubs and players will not have the understanding.

So, essentially, you don't want me to apply the Laws of the Game correctly?
 
The Ref Stop
Email them back asking what interpretation of the offside rule do they want referees to implement. The FA doesn't have the authority to offer guidance contrary to the LOTG without permission from IFAB.
 
I don't know what the thinking is regarding this for you guys in England. But whoever decided that there should be one interpretation for one level and a different for another is absolutely crazy. I feel for you guys who will have to go out and referee each week and have to explain this to teams.

The new interpretation is not exactly rocket science.
 
Just got my e-mail from my RDO, 2 hours before refereeing a match where the ball was played to an offside striker who tried to flick the ball on and missed by millimetres. But a striker ran onto it.
I just couldn't NOT blow for offiside.
They all expected offside and not a sole disagreed. That'd have been ****ing pandemonium had I left them play on.
You cannot send me out like a lamb to the slaughter with different interpretations. And the excuse that they won't understand is barmy.
I CANNOT be allowing goals that were disallowed the night before on MOTD, my job is hard enough thanks.
 
Prior to my game last night I explained to all players on each team how the offside law applied to them and how it was different from what they would be seeing on premier league. There were very puzzled, somewhat bewildered expressions but they just listened and accepted what I was telling them. As it happened there were no contentious offside decisions in game.
 
happy whistler said:
Prior to my game last night I explained to all players on each team how the offside law applied to them and how it was different from what they would be seeing on premier league. There were very puzzled, somewhat bewildered expressions but they just listened and accepted what I was telling them. As it happened there were no contentious offside decisions in game.
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If I can offer some advice ... please don't ever try to explain the LotG to players. They will take your words and twist them to suit their own motives. It's honestly not worth it.
 
In leicestershire we have not had that letter to say do not apply it to club assistants so I will be asking if they understand it and just hope they all say yes.
 
Steve Wiggins said:
In leicestershire we have not had that letter to say do not apply it to club assistants so I will be asking if they understand it and just hope they all say yes.
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No offence, but why bother? They're just going to lie to you. What blokes is going to admit to not knowing the offside law?
None of the players will have even looked at the offside law in their lives let alone the intepretations.
But they'll all say yes cos, like most people who have watched the game for mnay years, they think they're experts.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
If I can offer some advice ... please don't ever try to explain the LotG to players. They will take your words and twist them to suit their own motives. It's honestly not worth it.
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Couldn't agree more, a discussion with players on any subject is usually a bad move. You think you are explaining a decision, but all you do is open yourself up to an unwanted conversation that will go nowhere.
 
deusex said:
No offence, but why bother? They're just going to lie to you. What blokes is going to admit to not knowing the offside law?
None of the players will have even looked at the offside law in their lives let alone the intepretations.
But they'll all say yes cos, like most people who have watched the game for mnay years, they think they're experts.
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Agree with you in some sense but I have to mark club assistants in the main league I operate in I can just get a rough idea of if their going to be useless or not then it helps me. Quite a few times last season I told managers that certain players are to not run the line as they did not know the laws and have removed the flag from people on a few occasions.
 
Steve Wiggins said:
Agree with you in some sense but I have to mark club assistants in the main league I operate in I can just get a rough idea of if their going to be useless or not then it helps me. Quite a few times last season I told managers that certain players are to not run the line as they did not know the laws and have removed the flag from people on a few occasions.
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Said it before and I'll say it again... If I can offer some advice ... please don't ever try to explain the LotG to players. They will take your words and twist them to suit their own motives. It's honestly not worth it.
 
I don't know how the rules (laws) of poker. So I don't play it.

Footballers play the game so its their responsibility to learn the laws before they play.
 
I went over with the flag to brief CAR before yesterday's u18 game. His first comment was ' Are we playing to this new offside rule today then ref '. After advising him that there was no new law and we are exactly the same as last season at this level.
He did then mention that aswell as the Sunday league most of the team also play in a midweek floodlit league where I know NAR's are always appointed.
My immediate thought which I kept to myself was this is going to be interesting for them alternating between two different sets of implementation from one game to the next.
 
happy whistler said:
I went over with the flag to brief CAR before yesterday's u18 game. His first comment was ' Are we playing to this new offside rule today then ref '. After advising him that there was no new law and we are exactly the same as last season at this level.
He did then mention that aswell as the Sunday league most of the team also play in a midweek floodlit league where I know NAR's are always appointed.
My immediate thought which I kept to myself was this is going to be interesting for them alternating between two different sets of implementation from one game to the next.
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I don't know who's decision it was in England to adopt this difference of interpretation depending on the level, but i'll tell you for me it sounds ridiculous, and I feel sorry for the referees who may come across difficulties during matches this season as a result.
 
the walloper said:
I don't know who's decision it was in England to adopt this difference of interpretation depending on the level, but i'll tell you for me it sounds ridiculous, and I feel sorry for the referees who may come across difficulties during matches this season as a result.
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The IFAB made the decision. The English FA were obliged to introduce it as they were out of line with the interpretation made by other members of FIFA
 
I think @the walloper was referring to the message from the FA that referees at grassroots should not use the new interpretation rather than the decision of IFAB.
 
I've come to this a bit late, but what authority, if any, lies behind the "ruling" in the OP? Doesn't "grassroots leagues, clubs and players will not have the understanding" sound awfully patronising? Wherever it came from, just feed back that it's unworkable - and in fact the new interpretation is what most grassroots clubs and players have thought for years should be the law. It's surely conceivable that in a cup competition a "grassroots" team meets a team used to neutral assistants - which rules would apply?
 
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