A&H

Offside tips ?

The Referee Store
Practice, practice, practice.

As @JH says, it all starts with being in the perfect position (2LD, ball, or halfway line) at all times. Some other suggestions:
  • Keeping your shoulders square to the touchline will help make sure you are drawing a line parallel to the goal line to use to judge (if stay back enough from the line to keep the edge of the touch line at the bottom of your peripheral vision it will help you stay square)
  • Talk to yourself when players are in OSP ("10 is off, 7 is off")--subvocalizing can help keep track of who was off at any moment
  • Be sure to keep the ball in peripheral vision (and when you can't, swivel you head quickly, so that you can match OSP and time the ball is played
  • Be patient and wait for involvement--it is easy to jump the gun and flag in cases where there is ultimately no actual offense--a late flag is better than an early flag
  • Get a feel for the team's tendencies and you can anticipate what will happen. that doesn't mean prejudge, it just means that awareness can make you more ready for a particular play to take place and can help you focus your concentration.
  • Those video tests that @santa sangria references can be very helpful and help you notice where you tend to err--flash lag is real
 
I heard the FA were banning offsides in City games, just to stop them all whining ever week!!!
 
Practice sprinting along the line with with shoulder square to the line but your chin on your left shoulder 'continuously' looking directly at the field.

Often the defender's furthest back body part is his foot. Make sure you don't loose sight of that.

Sharp and confident body language and flag signals.
 
Last edited:
I think as a new referee he might be referring to the referee, without AR's getting offside decision's correct. Which is nigh on impossible when it's a tight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one
Without ARs, you need to be, wide, then wider still
You need good managment, to be able to defuse those close ones and quickly reason with fustrated players, a few good one liners
And, quick reading of the game, does everybody think its offside?
Oh, and, luck.
 
I think as a new referee he might be referring to the referee, without AR's getting offside decision's correct. Which is nigh on impossible when it's a tight.
Sorry didn’t make it clear was referring to being a neutral assistant
 
  • Like
Reactions: one
Without ARs, you need to be, wide, then wider still
You need good managment, to be able to defuse those close ones and quickly reason with fustrated players, a few good one liners
And, quick reading of the game, does everybody think its offside?
Oh, and, luck.
"It's near impossible for me to tell when it's close like that" - they usually accept this reasoning for me
 
Practice, practice, practice.

As @JH says, it all starts with being in the perfect position (2LD, ball, or halfway line) at all times. Some other suggestions:
  • Keeping your shoulders square to the touchline will help make sure you are drawing a line parallel to the goal line to use to judge (if stay back enough from the line to keep the edge of the touch line at the bottom of your peripheral vision it will help you stay square)
  • Talk to yourself when players are in OSP ("10 is off, 7 is off")--subvocalizing can help keep track of who was off at any moment
  • Be sure to keep the ball in peripheral vision (and when you can't, swivel you head quickly, so that you can match OSP and time the ball is played
  • Be patient and wait for involvement--it is easy to jump the gun and flag in cases where there is ultimately no actual offense--a late flag is better than an early flag
  • Get a feel for the team's tendencies and you can anticipate what will happen. that doesn't mean prejudge, it just means that awareness can make you more ready for a particular play to take place and can help you focus your concentration.
  • Those video tests that @santa sangria references can be very helpful and help you notice where you tend to err--flash lag is real

Some really good points in there that I've started using. I initially thought talking to yourself wouldn't make a difference, but after the last couple of lines I've run where I've used it I won't go back to not talking to myself. Some odd looks from the players/fans at some points but they get the idea
 
Here's one, though not a purist's view:

If you're 50/50 (as to whether a tight offside call is offside or not) - then flag it. ;)

Far better for the move to break down and be brought back for your flag than for you to let a 50/50 call go and a goal is scored as a result.

Flag it before a goal is scored and it's - "The lino got that badly wrong - terrible decision"

Don't flag it and a goal is then scored and it's - "That lino cost us the match"

Obviously it's down to your own gut at the time, but in my own experience, flagging a tight one is always easier to sell and gain forgiveness for than letting play go when you might've flagged and a goal comes of it.

Maybe liken it to being in the middle where giving a "soft" free kick will always be less problematic for you than letting an obvious one go ... :)

All just my own opinion though ...
 
And precisely the opposite of what is taught . . .

One of many ...

It's fairly logical really if you think about it.

If the guy is onside, your gut will tell you that and your flag will stay down. Those are fairly obvious.

If you're unsure (50/50) because you think he may be/have been offside at the point the ball was played by a team mate, then that's your gut telling you to get that flag up. :cool:
 
If its a close one and you're not in the greatest position, delay your whistle a bit and get into a better position.

If someone thinks you have got it wrong it will be look better on you if youre in line or as close as in line as you can get.
 
No it's not. If you're not sure if something is a foul then you don't call it. If you're not sure if the ball went out then you let play continue. If you're not sure someone was offside, then keep the flag down.

That's not quite how I posed it in my last post though.
We'll have to agree to disagree.
 
Here's one, though not a purist's view:

If you're 50/50 (as to whether a tight offside call is offside or not) - then flag it. ;)

Far better for the move to break down and be brought back for your flag than for you to let a 50/50 call go and a goal is scored as a result.

Flag it before a goal is scored and it's - "The lino got that badly wrong - terrible decision"

Don't flag it and a goal is then scored and it's - "That lino cost us the match"

Obviously it's down to your own gut at the time, but in my own experience, flagging a tight one is always easier to sell and gain forgiveness for than letting play go when you might've flagged and a goal comes of it.

Maybe liken it to being in the middle where giving a "soft" free kick will always be less problematic for you than letting an obvious one go ... :)

All just my own opinion though ...
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.
 
Back
Top