Question Number: 12435

Law 6 - Assistant Referee 3/27/2006

RE: Club, HS

Joe of Baltimore, Maryland USA asks...

I have a question re: AR mechanics when signaling a delayed offside call. If the AR is keeping with the second to last defender, and sees an obvious offside infraction, he stops and raises his flag. The offside and the restart are at the point where the offside attacker was at the time the ball was passed to him by a teammate. Fine.

Now suppose the offside attacker is on one side of the field, but the thru ball is sent down the far sideline. At the time the ball is played thru, it is not obvious that the offside player will become involved in the play or gain an advantage from his position, so no flag yet. The AR continues his run downfield as the attacker crosses the field toward the ball. Thirty yards downfield, it becomes clear that the offside attacker will in fact attempt to play the ball or get to the ball first. Offside. Flag goes up.

At this point, what does the AR do? It seems awkward, but I would expect that he would need to run the thirty yards back up the sideline to mark the original position of the offside attacker; and the restart would be from there. Yes? How is that best communicated to the CR?