When to raise the offside flag

[wardtc]

I've worked with several partners who have differing opinions on when to raise the offside flag. Here's the scenario:

Defenders have pulled up to the halfway line. Attackers forwards are marking close to them, but on the attacking side of the field in an offside position. Attacking team gains the ball and punts it over the halfway line. Forwards sprint to the ball which is 15 yards ahead of them. By the time they get to it, they are at the 18.

Does the AR raise the flag at the time of the punt, or run with the attackers and wait till they make contact with the ball first? Some say immediately because they gained an advantage (headstart in the race for the ball), and were involved with play (started to race to the ball). Others say they don't get the advantage till they touch the ball (many things could happen - roll an ankle, loose the race, keeper gets the ball first).

Either way, the ball is brought back to the point they were at (midfield) when the punt was made right?

[TussAgee11]

I'm not a soccer official, but have played and do know some stuff.

In international play, the ruling on this involves the term passive offsides. In other words, if he's out of the play, don't raise the flag. Let play continue. This has been a recent change implemented by FIFA: it used to be that once a player was off, raise it, and blow it (assuming it was not a shot).

When I played, it was raise it as soon as the ball was moved ahead. I'm not sure if they changed this as well.

[BoomerSooner]

As Tuss said it depends on if the player in the offside position was actively involved in the play. Being in an offside position is by no means an offside violation, however once the ball is played to such a player the flag should go up and the AR should hold his mark to make sure the proper restart point is known to all.

If the offside player were to retreat immediately seeing that he is in an offside position (never makes an attempt on the ball) and no advantage is gained by his being in that position, do not signal offside and the ball is fair game for all.

One big key from my experience with other referees is that the benefit of the doubt concerning advantage should be given to the defense (i.e. player offside, ball played ahead, offside player makes doesn't make any attempt to give chase, however a defender gets picked by him standing watching the other attackers give chase - offside and flag in the air)

[CecilOne]

As soon as you judge that a player, who was in an offside position when the ball was played, has become part of the play or impeded an opponent; it is a violation.
The call (whistle/flag) is made at the moment it becomes a violation as described above.

[phatneff]

I don't necessarily agree with that. There are times where it is more advantageous for the call NOT to be made than for it to be made. The best example of this is when the ball is in the vicinity of the goalkeeper. If the player is in the offside position and the ball is played to him while on the run, although it gets by him and he is still running to the ball, normally the call would be made. However, if it is rolling to the goalkeeper, it is much more of an advantage for the keeper to have it in his hands than to play it from the ground. I am a goalkeeper and an official and, speaking from experience, would much rather have the ball in my hands than it being spotted at the infraction point. You have more control over that ball at that point.

This can get tricky, but when become experienced enough to judge that, it will be much more beneficial for everyone involved.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by wardtc

I've worked with several partners who have differing opinions on when to raise the offside flag. Here's the scenario:

Defenders have pulled up to the halfway line. Attackers forwards are marking close to them, but on the attacking side of the field in an offside position. Attacking team gains the ball and punts it over the halfway line. Forwards sprint to the ball which is 15 yards ahead of them. By the time they get to it, they are at the 18.

Does the AR raise the flag at the time of the punt, or run with the attackers and wait till they make contact with the ball first? Some say immediately because they gained an advantage (headstart in the race for the ball), and were involved with play (started to race to the ball). Others say they don't get the advantage till they touch the ball (many things could happen - roll an ankle, loose the race, keeper gets the ball first).

Either way, the ball is brought back to the point they were at (midfield) when the punt was made right?

The other responders have said some good things, but there are a couple of additional points which I wish to add.
1. FIFA did make some changes to the wording and definitions of the offside Law in the summer of 2005.
2. These changes were intended to get the whole world to call offside in the same manner. FIFA even stated that the way the US federation handles the offside decision is what is desired.
3. The USSF stated that we should continue to make the offside decision as before.
4. FIFA later released a clarification that the AR does NOT have to wait for the offside attacker to touch the ball.
http://images.ussoccer.com/Documents.../doc_6_348.pdf

5. The most important part of this document is the following:
"In a close race between an onside and an offside

attacker, it would be necessary to see which player touches the ball
before deciding if an offside offense has occurred."

That is the case in which the AR should wait and not raise the flag until the attacker touches the ball. If there is no onside attacker who can get to the ball (as in the play in your question in which all of the attackers were in an offside position), then the AR should raise the flag right away.

6. Yes, in either case the IFK comes back to the original position where the offside attacker was when the ball was kicked.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by phatneff

I don't necessarily agree with that. There are times where it is more advantageous for the call NOT to be made than for it to be made. The best example of this is when the ball is in the vicinity of the goalkeeper. If the player is in the offside position and the ball is played to him while on the run, although it gets by him and he is still running to the ball, normally the call would be made. However, if it is rolling to the goalkeeper, it is much more of an advantage for the keeper to have it in his hands than to play it from the ground. I am a goalkeeper and an official and, speaking from experience, would much rather have the ball in my hands than it being spotted at the infraction point. You have more control over that ball at that point.

This can get tricky, but when become experienced enough to judge that, it will be much more beneficial for everyone involved.

The problem with your situation is that if you do not signal the offside and the GK misplays the ball or the attacker gains control before the GK it may be difficult to enforce the offside at this point because you initially ignored it (coaches, fans, players, etc will not understand that call if you make the call that late, granted we aren't there to please the aformentioned groups, you can see the problem). You also have to consider a situation where the ensuing kick after the offside call would be taken from close to midfield, is it really advantageous for the offended team to have the ball in the GK's hands or a free kick at midfield?

The intent of the rule is not to provide the offended team with the most advantageous benefit from the situation, but rather to prevent the offending team from gaining an advantage.

All that said, a ball played deep with an attacker in an offside position, but cannot with even the most exceptional speed get to combined with no attempt to play, I'm probably going to consider it an attempt to clear the ball and let the GK handle it, but that goes back to the attacking team received no advantage from the situation.

[phatneff]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

The problem with your situation is that if you do not signal the offside and the GK misplays the ball or the attacker gains control before the GK it may be difficult to enforce the offside at this point because you initially ignored it (coaches, fans, players, etc will not understand that call if you make the call that late, granted we aren't there to please the aformentioned groups, you can see the problem). You also have to consider a situation where the ensuing kick after the offside call would be taken from close to midfield, is it really advantageous for the offended team to have the ball in the GK's hands or a free kick at midfield?

The intent of the rule is not to provide the offended team with the most advantageous benefit from the situation, but rather to prevent the offending team from gaining an advantage.

I disagree with the first and third part of this comment.

1. Your job as an official is to enforce the rules. It is not your job to interpret them (to a point). You have to explain to nobody, except maybe the referee, and if you really feel it's necessary, the offending coach, why you did or did not raise the flag. Who cares if it's late. It's better to make the correct call than the wrong one. If the keeper misplays it and the offender gets it, or if the offender beats the keeper to the ball, what are you saying? You are saying that AT THAT POINT, the offender gained the advantage from being in that offside position, at which case you can raise your flag and bring it back. It's very similar to the advantage clause for a referee to hold off on a foul call until he see the development of the play.

2. I do agree that if the offending player is near midfield, it would be more advantageous to raise the flag and allow the restart to be conducted closer to midfield rather than in the keeper's hands.

3. The intent of the rule is to penalize the offending team and make it the most advantageous to the defending team. You don't want to stop the flow of the game and call a "trifling" offside penalty. If you do stop the game, it should be advantageous to the team that was not at fault.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by phatneff

I don't necessarily agree with that. There are times where it is more advantageous for the call NOT to be made than for it to be made. The best example of this is when the ball is in the vicinity of the goalkeeper. If the player is in the offside position and the ball is played to him while on the run, although it gets by him and he is still running to the ball, normally the call would be made.

However, if it is rolling to the goalkeeper, it is much more of an advantage for the keeper to have it in his hands than to play it from the ground. I am a goalkeeper and an official and, speaking from experience, would much rather have the ball in my hands than it being spotted at the infraction point. You have more control over that ball at that point.

This can get tricky, but when become experienced enough to judge that, it will be much more beneficial for everyone involved.

Temporarily ignoring the succinct comments after this, the question was not about whether to call, but when to call if you will.

Yes, we take keeper possession into account on many calls, especially the punt versus FK when the keeper is near goal.