The Ref Stop

No Lino’s

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Just ref’d two vets games, 1hr each game.

How on gods earth you guys called the offsides in your games I will never know.

My legs feel like they are about to fall off, trying to be in position to call it & the aggro it caused, my god its not easy.
 
The Ref Stop
Men in Black said:
It’s bloody difficult Sheff
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Not really, you've got one massive advantage.... when you're right you are right and when you're wrong you are also right, and they have to accept that and not moan. You'll get 90+% right first time after a bit of practice, the rest, tough... pay for some ARs or offer some CARs!!!! Even the top boys don't get them all right!!!
 
It’s all about altering your positioning to enable you to get into the best position to call offsides, and making some compromises, you can’t be everywhere and see everything.

You can catch “obvious” offsides by having a quick scan of where players are just before a ball is played forwards, the more difficult calls will require you to get into a more conventional position, I.e. in line with the second to last defender.

It comes with experience, but like you I referee in an area where cars are the norm and they do so offsides, so it’s very rare I do a game without them. This will also add to the aggro you get, if players are used to CARs they expect you to be in a position to call all offsides correctly.
 
I had two choices either hug the touchline to basically get a wide on view like a Lino but miss potential fouls etc over the other side or ref as normal and not be in the best position to call offside.

First game 1-1 no issues with offside, then again i was fresh.

Second game 6-5 and a couple of offside incidents & in general a lot harder to manage, maybe because I was a bit knackered.
 
Was taught on my course it's always easier to sell a dodgy offside than a dodgy goal which people complain about because it should have been offside...
 
Men in Black said:
I had two choices either hug the touchline to basically get a wide on view like a Lino but miss potential fouls etc over the other side or ref as normal and not be in the best position to call offside.

First game 1-1 no issues with offside, then again i was fresh.

Second game 6-5 and a couple of offside incidents & in general a lot harder to manage, maybe because I was a bit knackered.
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What I get from that is that you can't be blamed for lack of effort. Kudos for that. You can't expect any more. With no ARs some of your offside decisions are educated guess work. More practice gets you more educated :)
 
Mintyref said:
Don't keep trying to get in the best position to call off sides @Men in Black, leave that to the refereeing super heros like @Sheffields Finest and myself. You need to concentrate on the more important parts of refereeing like, foul play, dissent and remaining cool calm and collected.................😇
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And not forgetting @Mintyref the mostest important thing for the next up snd coming refereeing super hero and mummys boy to boot..... is your bloody shirt tucked in? :chicken:
 
Yeah I agree with @Mintyref , I'd rather be around where the fouls are than out wide looking for offsides. My motto is, if you're daft enough to try and play the offside trap with no linesmen available, you're daft enough to enjoy me shouting 'no, play on' when the striker is one on one because of it. :P
 
Men in Black said:
I had two choices either hug the touchline to basically get a wide on view like a Lino but miss potential fouls etc over the other side or ref as normal and not be in the best position to call offside.

First game 1-1 no issues with offside, then again i was fresh.

Second game 6-5 and a couple of offside incidents & in general a lot harder to manage, maybe because I was a bit knackered.
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Yep, this is what positioning is all about. Weighing up 1 vs the other. Position A is good for Offence X but not Offence Y, and Position B vice versa.

You might be putting sacrificing too much for offside though.

I find often in the middle I can sort of quickly run an imaginary line across the grass. Almost drawing my own 'TV line' of offside. Kind of hard to explain, but it's a tactic that helps me. I might actually move the focus of my vision to the touch line and quickly run my eyes directly across the grass in a line....sort of drawing a line in the grass with my focal point.

Having said that I've had games where I've been in crazy positions for offside decisions. I've had games by myself where I've spent 70% of the time hanging out with the sweeper. But that was how I read that game. You can't break the 'rules' (positioning rules) until you have a bit of experience under your belt.
 
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RobOda said:
Yeah I agree with @Mintyref , I'd rather be around where the fouls are than out wide looking for offsides. My motto is, if you're daft enough to try and play the offside trap with no linesmen available, you're daft enough to enjoy me shouting 'no, play on' when the striker is one on one because of it. :p
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Good advice about the highline, I’ll mention that next time.

People are saying don’t put so much attention on offside, trying telling that to a back four and keeper that are going ape sh*t about a goal..
 
No, we're not saying don't put so much attention on offside - we're saying don't compromise your other positioning TOO much.

If you find that you're missing fouls because you're too far wide, then consider whether or not you're in the most effective position. With time and experience you'll be able to judge offside reasonably accurately from the middle.

Having no AR's does change your position and force you to make compromises. But it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I'd say that in general play you usually don't want to be wide and near the 2nd last defence line.

I tend to find that if I'm getting wide, it's most likely because the ball is near the touch line and I want to be in a position for that. Offside doesn't change my 'general play' positioning a lot. Although you do want to make sure you're in a position to be able to check on what the attackers and defenders are doing without turning away from play too much. You find you need to be constantly aware of the movement around the offside line (and also because you need to constantly be thinking about where play is going next). If you can have both the ball and the offside line in your view then that's probably not a bad position - but the next thing is what tricks can you use to judge offside. Try what I suggested before. Also use field markings to help, or anything natural, lines of dead grass that run directly across the field, things like that.

I do change my positioning completely at ceremonial free kicks and corners. Ceremonial free kicks I'll probably compromise my fouls view to go right on the offside line.
 
The easist solution is just agree that the offside law is ignored. Everybody understands this, doesn't try to appeal for offside and there is no dissent. Simple..

The other option is like most referees at difficult offside decisions is GUESS. With experience, you will be able to assess clearly on or clearly off, otherwise it is a guess. If they moan too much, use your cards.

@Men in Black -if the players are use to having CAR's and their team cannot provide a suitable person, sod them - it is not your fault they cannot provide. And remember if the league rules says they must provide one and don't report them to the league so that they can be fined accordingly.
 
Get wide. And the get wider still

If it looks and smells like offside, then its probably offside

I also find delaying the whistle a split second as you run into a more credible position/angle helps. Then blow, as if you were there the whole time

I observed plenty games this season, Offside was never a concerning factor in any of the games.
 
I think most of us get 90% of the offside calls right whilst we are behind play looking towards the 2nd to last defender. What is impossible to do with any great certainty is accurately call offside whilst you're facing the same way as the defenders (ie, long balls from the opposite half, which is particularly common at the dog and duck level I often ref at). Quite how you can give an accurate offside call when you're
looking the opposite way is beyond me, it's
literally best guess as you turn around and look across the defensive line. So when I get the inevitable whinging about the decision from a long ball I explain that I'm looking the other way when the ball is kicked so it's going to be a case of my best guess when I turn around and look across the line and that it's impossible to look at 2 places at once. They usually understand once u explain it and if they don't then tough.

"I'm doing 3 jobs at once here fellas". Usually this leads to a bit of banter or at least shows the players the difficulties of having no ARs. They might not publically show that they understand it's difficulties but rarely do they moan after the game once they've had chance to think about it.
 
A good thing to do when watching on tele box is to try and call offside. I do this all the time, much to the amazement of the wife as to how accurate I am. From there you'll start to learn the cues of when a Player is and isn't offside.
Its not an exact science I am afraid and tbh you're damned if you do and damned if you dont. Im yet to meet a striker that was offside nor a defender that has ever played a man on. They are mythical creatures
 
lincs22 said:
The easist solution is just agree that the offside law is ignored. Everybody understands this, doesn't try to appeal for offside and there is no dissent. Simple..

The other option is like most referees at difficult offside decisions is GUESS. With experience, you will be able to assess clearly on or clearly off, otherwise it is a guess. If they moan too much, use your cards.

@Men in Black -if the players are use to having CAR's and their team cannot provide a suitable person, sod them - it is not your fault they cannot provide. And remember if the league rules says they must provide one and don't report them to the league so that they can be fined accordingly.
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Educated guesses are the thing, especially helpful us a nicely mown pitch with parallel cut lines from side to side just like in the Premier League.....not!
 
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