The Ref Stop

What would you have done here?

F

farrell

New Member
I was AR and I'll admit had a bad moment. Blues were attacking and had a free kick 25 yards out. They crossed it in and yellows headed it away (every blue was onside as they headed it out). It fell to a blue on the edge of the box who shot and the keeper saved it but tipped it to a blue who scored. However the blue was 3-4 yards behind the defence when he scored but due to a lack of concentration by me , I hadn't seen whether he timed his run or not so I didn't know whether it was offside. I've been taught-If in doubt, give it to the defending side so I gave offside because of that and due to the fact that he was so far offside, not just a step or two.

What would you have done? (Aside from watch the offside line, I usually do but for some reason I missed it in this game)
 
The Ref Stop
If you don't know, go with the least harmful option. And then hope for the best.

Sounds like you did the right thing with the bad situation you found yourself in. Like you said though, better to not get into to this situation - keep concentration up for the full 90. Don't worry about it too much though, learn from it, move on.
 
farrell said:
I missed it though so I either had to guess offside or guess not offside
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You didn't have to guess one way or the other

You didn't see it, you don't signal

'Least harmful option' - really? - integrity over match control every day of the week
 
haywain said:
You didn't have to guess one way or the other

You didn't see it, you don't signal

'Least harmful option' - really? - integrity over match control every day of the week
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I get what you're saying but by not signalling, I would have been saying it was onside, not saying I don't know
 
There is no doing nothing in this situation. Doing nothing is saying onside, play on.

Integrity in allowing a goal you suspect is offside? Integrity is buggered either way in fairness.

I suspect the better option would be to put the flag straight up, get the ref over and tell him what happened and what you saw. Let him decide.
 
To quote Mike Mullarkey from the "The Referees" dvd
Id rather not flag it and be wrong than flag it and be wrong....
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Or something like that

This is definitely a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. You made a choice to flag it. Youve learnt a valuable lesson from this, the need to concentrate at all times
 
Better a bad offside decision than a bad goal that people will remember for a lot longer.

As for the lapse in concentration, we've all been there. Any referee who says they haven't is a liar.
 
haywain said:
integrity over match control every day of the week
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Wrong on so many levels. You make a decision based on preserving your integrity rather than a hunch which will help you retain match control, then you begin a spiral into self doubt and loss of control.
 
Unacceptable behaviour toward a fellow forum user
Brian Hamilton said:
Wrong on so many levels. You make a decision based on preserving your integrity rather than a hunch which will help you retain match control, then you begin a spiral into self doubt and loss of control.
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Or rather, cheat once and it is easier to cheat the second time

More than happy to disagree on this one
 
haywain said:
Or rather, cheat once and it is easier to cheat the second time

More than happy to disagree on this one
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Be very careful with your choice of words haywain. You may want to be provocative but you've just associated one of my comments with the worst word you can use when speaking of a referee.
 
Flag up in my opinion, better safe than sorry. Also (following a conference theme) "what would football expect?" At grass roots stuff I'd just go by player reaction if I didn't know same with throw ins, if everyone expects the offside, don't disappoint until it gets to more serious football.
 
Discussion and debate are healthy. I would remind all to think through your wordings carefully as deliberately provocative posts are unacceptable.

This is a very interesting and unusual discussion, let's keep it civil please.

I would also like to thank @farrell for bringing this here. It's a brave thing to admit such a situation in front of your peers so can we be mindful of keeping responses supportive.

Thank you.
 
HullRef said:
Flag up in my opinion, better safe than sorry. Also (following a conference theme) "what would football expect?" At grass roots stuff I'd just go by player reaction if I didn't know same with throw ins, if everyone expects the offside, don't disappoint until it gets to more serious football.
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'Better safe than sorry', 'what football expects'

you won't be surprised to hear that i don't subscribe to the 'what football expects' approach either, hull - again, happy to disagree on this one

sometimes referees have to guess, or the game couldn't continue. the same is never true of an assistant referee

Supermonkey said:
Discussion and debate are healthy. I would remind all to think through your wordings carefully as deliberately provocative posts are unacceptable.

This is a very interesting and unusual discussion, let's keep it civil please.

I would also like to thank @farrell for bringing this here. It's a brave thing to admit such a situation in front of your peers so can we be mindful of keeping responses supportive.

Thank you.
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i chose 'cheat' very carefully, monkey. what word would you use then?
 
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I'm with the flag up camp. Rather than doubt about offside it's whether you doubt it is a goal. Any doubt means flag up. Like Brian says better a dodgy offside than a dodgy goal.
 
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