Question Number: 28672

Law 11 - Offside 8/19/2014

RE: Competitive Under 14

Aaron Speca of Virginia Beach, VA USA asks...

Our team plays a very aggressive and effective offside trap, which of course leads to all kinds of situations that can be tricky to call. There have been three specific scenarios that have stuck with me over the past few weeks that I wanted to run by you. I'm going to ask them one at a time though :P

Scenario:

Disney International Cup, Bermuda (in yellow) is trying to mount an offensive charge. Player A (in yellow with ball at beginning) passes across to Player B who one-touches it forward to Player C, who is in offside position when Player B touches the ball forward. The AR's flag goes up immediately. The CR allows play to continue. As the play continues with Player C breaking (camera loses the play for part), the keeper forces the play wide. The ball goes over the end line for an apparent goal kick but it is not called with the AR far out of position. The ball is played back into the box for a goal. When asked, the AR says the CR called and signaled that he waved off the offsides because of a deflection by the defensive player (I assume the blue player who was right in front of Player B). The AR and CR never actually conferred on the play, it all happened right in front of the AR while the CR was trailing the play.

First, I'm not sure there even was a deflection, but even if there was, would that automatically result in a wave-off of the offsides call? That goal was the tying goal in the 2nd half of a championship match that Bermuda won on a penalty kick awarded late in stoppage time.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyFv1GQ5_UE

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee must make a judgment call whenever the defender makes contact with the ball. The issue, however, is not whether there was a 'deflection.' A deflection is not enough to make someone in offside position (when the ball was last touched by a teammate) eligible to play the ball.

The judgment for the referee is whether the defender made a 'deliberate play' on the ball (other than a 'deliberate save'). This judgment usually involves questions of time and space for the defender (the less time/space the more likely the contact was a 'deflection'), along with the relative skills of the players (which at Disney can be very high).

The most dramatic example of a deliberate play by a defender that appears to a spectator simply be a deflection is a slide tackle. There, the defender has made a skilled move to play the ball - even when the ball was directed toward a player in onside position. This is a deliberate play on the ball, which makes every opponent eligible to play the ball. At a high skill level, most headers of the ball are 'deliberate plays.' (At U-littles, the player has no idea where the ball will go - - in the unskilled, it is more like a deflection.)

So, it is possible that the referee's judgment was sound, even though the explanation was wanting. (NB: I was unable to find the video on the link.)

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Aaron
The video doesn't really tell us very much. If there was a touch by Blue it was certainly slight and most likely a deflection which means the AR was correct. Perhaps the referee saw it as an attempt by Blue to play the ball to her team mate in close proximity that went astray? The interpretation to that question will determine the call. If it was a play of the ball then offside was reset. If it was a deflection then it was offside. You do not mention when this happened. IFAB the law making body made some changes to the Offside Law 11 in July of this year concerning rebounds and deflections. Many referees where not interpreting this element of Law 11 correctly. With any change perhaps some referees have gone too far by interpreting an attempted kick as a reset. Have a look at this video which shows that it should be called offside which I believe is what happened in your example

http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video007.html
Compare that to this video and there is a fine line of difference.
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video008.html

Also the centre does not have consult with an AR on a wave down of an offside flag. If he believed the ball was played by Blue as distinct from a deflection then he allows play to continue.
Here is an example of a wave down of an offside flag by a FIFA referee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abds-p-57E&t=3m26s
The referee saw that the ball was played by Green to the Blue player in an offside position which meant that it could not be offside. The call was 100% correct and the referee had no need to consult with the AR as he knew the AR did not see the play of the ball by Green.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

The video is not the best to sort out anything concrete but if the referee claims that the blue attempt to block the pass could somehow be enough to say it was a deliberate play of control is hard to fathom. If the yellow player who appeared to be in an offside position received that pass I have to side with the AR as being correct! Unfortunately once a referee has made a decision be it right or wrong it becomes the correct one and unchangeable. As for poor decisions and ARs being out of position, even at the World Cup, we saw plenty of that.
Cheers