A&H

Offside!

Yampy

RefChat Addict
I wasn't the ref for this game but I was involved and it's got me thinking as to what I would do in such a situation.

The game was an U14 fixture between Stripes and Blues, the latter being my son's team and the away team. It was in September so the pitch was good but there was a decent wind down the pitch and the Blues had it to their back in the first half. While the Blues had a keeper who couldn't kick, they did have a centre half who did give it a wallop and he took the goal kicks (you can see where this is going, can't you?)

First goal kick gets caught by the wind and sails over everyone into the Stripes half but before Blues can get to it goes through for the Stripes keeper to clear. As a spectator, I gave instruction to my son to go stand in the opposition half and be better prepared for the next one. The "next one" duly arrived and he stood clearly inside the Stripes half and no one followed him. The defence stayed routed to the half way line. Lo and behold the ball sailed over their heads, was controlled by my son, and boom, goal!

Next goal kick, almost identical but no goal. By this time there's murmurs from the crowd (home supporters) but when the next chance arrives, the ref blows his whistle for offside! (He had chosen to decline the use of CARs). My son inquires of the ref and says you can't be offside from a goal kick, "Yes, you can" was his reply. The remainder of the half was played with this adaptation of the Law in place.

At HT, I asked the ref why he'd started to make these calls and he repeated what he said to my son. I told him he was wrong and he should check LOAF when he gets home. To his credit, he does so on his phone at HT and walks back over to me and apologises. He thanked me for pointing out his error and went off to start the second half.

Needless to say, the Stripes took advantage of having a full half of wind assistance but at least the Blues defence dropped deep to accommodate.

My question is how do you react to these moments of madness? Can you ever make it fair to both sides? If you apply the law incorrectly in one half, should you change the error of your ways in the second? To be honest, I'm not sure what I'd have done but it does illustrate that even referees don't also know that "you can't be offside from a goal kick".
 
The Referee Store
:cough: consistancy.

If YOU realise you've made a boo boo and no-one else notices or cares, I'd continue. On the other hand if someone flags it up you could sell it as you saw it differently that time, but make a mental note and apply corrently from then on, admitting your mistake to yourself.
 
You have to put your hands up, apologise and explain your mistake to the teams and start enforcing the law properly.

And make sure to jump in my time machine, reread the LOTG and not make such a crazy and basic boo boo in the first place!!
 
That is truly shocking. I've heard some blunders but even players know this law, and that says something!
 
That is truly shocking. I've heard some blunders but even players know this law, and that says something!

I'd say that, whilst some players know that you can't be offside from a goal kick, when talking in terms of a striker challenging a goal kick from the opposition by standing just outside the penalty area, less players realise that you can't be offside as an striker on the same side as the team taking the goal kick.
 
Very true!

I find it depends on how good the striker is as to whether they think its offside or not as well!
 
What about this one........ an unqualified referee still in his training period ,doing an under11s boys game who his son happened to Centre Half for (blues) and they have been thumped 5 0 plus every week

Very windy down the pitch Blues CB (ref s Son ) hoofs a clearance (losing 4 0 at the time with 10 mins left ) the Ball takes to the strong wind and flies towards the opposition goal ...CAR wrongly!!! flags for an offside 3 yards from the halfway line , the inexperienced Ref automatically blew for the offside and 2 seconds later the ball was in the back of the net from 60 yards out !!! mass celebration from the losing side who were pretty goal shy and the referee said ......"sorry boys my fault shouldn't have blown for the offside that goal was fine " as no one went anywhere near it after the clearance apart from the keepers despairing dive !!

The Referee in question did apologise to the away team after the game for his premature whistle and for allowing the goal to stand .
there were no hard feeling from the opponents as they won 7 1 but I think he may have forgot to mention it was his son who scored the wonder goal ??
 
When I'm playing and have one of those intolerable referees who approach the game with completely the wrong attitude and consequently don't fully know the laws, I always like to have a copy of the LotG in my kit bag to 'clarify any confusion.'
 
Back
Top