Question Number: 21640

Law 11 - Offside 7/11/2009

Gil Acedo of Sierra Madre, CA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 21636

This brings up a question in my mind. While Erik described the 'thuggery' of the defender, he doesn't say what happened leading up to the foul. If Erik was in an offside position, and assuming the foul was not as violent as E. recounted it, could the referee have deemed that Erik had interfered with the opponent, thus being guilty of offside? Or, if the foul had been reckless, should the referee whistle offside (interefering with play) and caution the defender for USB? Or, do you punish the defender by whistling the more serious of the infractions and award the DFK to Erik's team?

A side note to Erik: Unfortunately the harshest punishment the referee can mete out on the field is a red card. I would recommend a several game suspension, and a required attendance at a referee course and several games with a whstle in your mouth.

Thanks to all for your help,
Gil Acedo

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Gil. Good to hear from you again. My thought was that Eric's collision was interfering with an opponent and was guilty of offside which, I believe, is what the AR thought. Regardless of the nature of the collision, I don't think you have interfering with play. If the collision was by the defender and was reckless then by all means, caution and show the yellow card which is how I first answered the question. Eric's being in offside position and becoming actively involved in play by interfering with an opponent actually occurs before the contact so I would not award a DFK to Erik's team.

I agree with you that Erik needs more than a 1 game suspension.