Question Number: 24492

Law 11 - Offside 1/16/2011

RE: pro Professional

harvey stephens of glasgow, uk asks...

whats the take on this situation from the celtic v hamilton game last week. the goal was given but should it have been offside or not. - the player in the offside position never touches the ball (incase its not clear from video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh5EBQEBnyY

I say no as he is not in the gk eyeline when the ball is kicked. what do you think?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

But does he get block the keeper's vision at a critical moment? If the referee judged he did, then the decision must be offside for interfering with an opponent. He was clearly in an offside position at the time of the kick, and he then moved to a position where the keeper is blocked from seeing the ball until the last second. What we judge at the moment the ball is kicked is where the attacking player is located, and then we judge whether or not he interferes with play, with an opponent or gains an advantage from a rebound or deflection. The only one that would apply here is the interfering with an opponent.

One can only assume the referee either could not see this, or did not judge it to be a blocking of the keeper's line of sight. The AR could not be too much help here, since he is looking through the rest of the players at the critical moment.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Harvey
The question the assistant referee has to consider is did the player in an offisde position interfere with an opponent.
"Interfering with an opponent" means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
IMO from viewing the video here I believe that the player in an offside position did indeed interfere with an opponent by making a movement which distracted the goalkeeper.
In a game situation at speed with a lot going on it is difficult for an AR to get all offside calls correct and in this case to decide from perhaps 35 yards away if the PIOP did interfere or not from his viewing angle. Many times referees give total responsibility for calling offside to the ARs. I'm sure the referee could see here that the PIOP did interfere with an opponent and perhaps he should have at least asked the AR for an interpretation of what he saw. The alternative is for the AR to flag, ask the referee across and agree that it was interfering or not which then means allowing the goal or restarting with an IDFK.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The fact that he was not blocking the keeper's line of site at the moment of the kick is unimportant. The important thing at the moment of the kick is: is he in an offside position, which he was.

From that instant until offside resets he may not become actively involved in play.

It's clear to me from the video angle that he interfered with the keeper's ability to see and play the ball. The problem is, there is no way the AR could have seen this and the referee probably was watching the rest of the action and did not see it.

This video is a beautiful illustration of just how difficult the jobs of referee and assistant referee are and why there will never be instant replay as we have here in American football. Play would come to an absolute standstill were actions like this reviewable and the game of soccer would suffer tremendously. We in America are obsessed with the need "to get it right". I think a large number of American football fans would love to see 10 robotic referees that never made a mistake take over football. These are games played and judged by humans. The beauty of soccer is it is judged by people that do their best to be able to see everything and only call what they actually see. This was a part of every sport until the dreaded replay technology made it's way into basketball and football and since, IMHO, have made those two sports MUCH less fun to watch