Question Number: 19050

Law 11 - Offside 5/10/2008

RE: 8 Under 13

frank of fairfield, CT USA asks...

This is a question about where the ball is for a restart when offside is called.

Sometimes a player adjudged to be in an offside position is not part of the play for some time and distance. This means they may be further up field before they decide to "get amongst it." At this point I will properly make the call as a violation of the offside rule however, where should the play be re-started?

I believe it should still be from the point the offensive player was at the point his team mate kicked the ball up field but some refs seem to want to re-start at the point the player becomes "involved." HELP!!!

It puts me in a funny position since my duty is to also keep up with the play (until it is callable) in order to see things clearly. THEN i have to make the call AND go back up field to where the "receiver" was when it came off team mates foot.

Am I doing this "following the play" correctly (might be hand ball, other offensive player pushing etc...) or should a freeze at the point he was while letting them move up field? I think the former.

Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Offside is a TWO part infringement where we FIRST determine the POSSIBLE but the ONLY real restart position. When the team mate touches plays the ball if there is an offside positioned player he is restricted from further play during this PHASE of play and his location at that time is the restart position when or if there is involvement LATER.. The fact is the ball and the offside player could move to NEW locations and ONLY when or IF the offside player becomes INVOLVED per interfering with play, interfering with opponent or gains an advantage as described in law 11 do we STOP play and the restart goes back to the OLD positional location. Since an INDFK inside the defending third or defending mid is not really a scoring opportunity the latitude in a blade of grass restart is not something a referee truly is concerned about so the approximate area is seen as sufficient simply to expedite play. You always stay with play and only raise your flag when the INVOLVEMENT is a dead certainty. Then you side step your way along the touchline to indicate the CORRECT restart position at the old positional restriction site FIRST determined when the ball was initially played through by the team mate .
Cheers


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Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The other referees are incorrect. The restart is ALWAYS at the spot the offside player was when the ball was played or touched by a teammate

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