Question Number: 26115

Law 11 - Offside 3/29/2012

RE: Competitive Under 19

David of San Clemente, CA USA asks...

Advantage for other than law 12

If a player is offside is there ever a reason not to award the IFK?

ATR says advantage is for Law 12 issues only.

Example:
Offside player touches ball and it goes into keepers hands, or defenders foot who clears it to a forward that is now on a free breakaway attack to goal.
It would seem reasonable to not stop play, but then that would be applying advantage.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
The offside offence can be deemed to be trifling in the circumstances you outline and advantage is then not a consideration.
In Europe referees simply wave down the offside flag and allow play to continue.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

If a player in offside position has touched the ball, the referee should stop play unless the infringement proves trifling. The two most likely examples is when the ball is clearly in the goalkeeper's possession or when the ball has gone out of play for a goal kick. In both cases, stopping action and dealing with the formal restart usually makes the match less enjoyable than letting play continue in the usual course.

It can be helpful for the referee to acknowledge the assistant referee for making a correct offside flag. 'Good flag, but let's just go with the goal kick' can make it clear that you have confidence in the assistant and that you understand the value of getting play restarted quickly.

Note: there are times when it is better to call the offside. Teams can get upset if the referee does not make the expected decision when the circumstances are clear. If the attacker has made three close runs and this is the first one offside, stopping play confirms that the referee team has gotten all of the decisions correctly. A team that is trapping wants the first call to make the opponents adjust. (In the modern game, however, that adjustment might destroy the trap in the second half).

A feel for the game will inform the referee when to ignore something as trifling.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Unless the offside positioned player touches the ball, when the ball ends up in the keeper's hands or over the goal line, or a defender's possession mounting an attack, USSF has routinely explained to let play continue,not because of advantage but because an offside offense never happened.