The Ref Stop

Offside offence commited?

RobS

New Member
Yesterday I was running the line. The attacking team had three players A, B and C. At the time player A passed the ball to player B - player C was in an offside position. I waited until player B passed to Player C and then raised the flag as I deemed that Player C had now committed an Offence. The attacking's team manager wasn't happy - implying that when player B passed it to player C, C was no longer in an offside position and hence should not have been flagged for an off side offence. Was I right to flag player C as committing an offence?
 
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Was player C still stood offside when Player B passed to him? You don’t specify above, only that the manager claimed he was no longer offside.

If C was still in an offside position, correct decision. If not, then it was incorrect.

There are some nuances, such as if C prevented an opponent intercepting/blocking/playing the ball to player B, where again, offside is the correct call.
 
Yesterday I was running the line. The attacking team had three players A, B and C. At the time player A passed the ball to player B - player C was in an offside position. I waited until player B passed to Player C and then raised the flag as I deemed that Player C had now committed an Offence. The attacking's team manager wasn't happy - implying that when player B passed it to player C, C was no longer in an offside position and hence should not have been flagged for an off side offence. Was I right to flag player C as committing an offence?
If player C was no longer in an offside position when the ball was passed to him by player B then no offence was committed.

Think of it this way, you deemed an offence committed one pass after the original offside position. What if the ball was passed to him two passes later or five passes later and he is all the way back, do you still give offside? Offside is only an offense if interference happens on the original 'pass'. If he doesn't interfere on that pass, 'a new phase of play' starts. It basically means everything is reset.
 
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Missing important info... When the ball was played by player B where was player C at this point?
 
If player C was no longer in an offside position when the ball was passed to him by player B then no offence was committed.

Think of it this way, you deemed an offence committed one pass after the original offside position. What if the ball was passed to him two passes later or five passes later and he is all the way back, do you still give offside? Offside is only an offense if interference happens on the original 'pass'. If he doesn't interfere on that pass, 'a new phase of play' starts. It basically means everything is reset.
Thanks for clarifying that (every new pass is a new phase of play) that's easy to know. I'm only doing it for my daughter's U14 team. I'm thinking of doing exams - what do you recommend, is it worth it or is just extra stress?
 
Was player C still stood offside when Player B passed to him? You don’t specify above, only that the manager claimed he was no longer offside.

If C was still in an offside position, correct decision. If not, then it was incorrect.

There are some nuances, such as if C prevented an opponent intercepting/blocking/playing the ball to player B, where again, offside is the correct call.
Thanks for replying Tealeaf, player C wasn't offside.
 
When I teach new referees sometimes I describe it as this. Each time an attacking player touches the ball, you take a snapshot in your head of who is in offside position (”OSP”) at the moment the ball was touched. Those are the players who can’t get involved. Each time an attacker touches the ball, you throw out the snapshot and replace it with a new one. (And if the ball goes out of play or a defender plays the ball (other than a save), you throw out the snapshot and don’t have a new one until an attacker touches the ball again.
 
When I teach new referees sometimes I describe it as this. Each time an attacking player touches the ball, you take a snapshot in your head of who is in offside position (”OSP”) at the moment the ball was touched. Those are the players who can’t get involved. Each time an attacker touches the ball, you throw out the snapshot and replace it with a new one. (And if the ball goes out of play or a defender plays the ball (other than a save), you throw out the snapshot and don’t have a new one until an attacker touches the ball again.
Thanks that makes a lot of sense
 
I'm thinking of doing exams - what do you recommend, is it worth it or is just extra stress?
Refereeing is not everyone's cup of tea but it definitely has it's rewards. It's worth doing the course. Even if you don't referee you'd understand the guy/gal in the middle a lot better.
 
C is only onside because he is now behind the ball and does not satisfy the requirements for offside which are behind second to last defender and ahead of the ball. Correct?
 
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