Delayed Offside

[ahemps]

I was watching the game at work last night and one of the guys happened to be a referee so he gave us good insight. Linesman don't flag for offside now even when it is glaringly obvious. There were a few occasions when an England player got down the wing and he looked offside but the linesman didn't put his flag up, nothing came of the attack but England kept possession. I asked why are they not bringing it back as they are gaining an advantage but he said they are told not to flag and offside only gets checked if there has been a goal. If there is a break in play then they put their flag up but it seems they don't if nothing comes from the play. There were a couple of English guys who also noticed this and seemed confused as to why they were allowed to keep possession despite looking to be offside.

Also the fact play can keep going when a clearly offside player is through on goal and goalkeepers, defenders and attackers keep playing when there is no reason too is at some point going to lead to an incident/tackle where someone comes out injured. Seems utterly bizarre to me.

[Jambomo]

I noticed that last night as well and the same thought occurred to me. If they aren’t flagging then you are getting away with being offside unless you score from it.

I don’t agree with the second point though. There’s nothing about not flagging that somehow makes things more dangerous for players, it’s simply not stopping the game. Injuries and things happen but the lack of a flag isn’t the cause and we don’t need to exaggerate stuff like that to make the point that they should flag.

[Jives Miguel]

40 minutes ago, ahemps said:

I was watching the game at work last night and one of the guys happened to be a referee so he gave us good insight. Linesman don't flag for offside now even when it is glaringly obvious. There were a few occasions when an England player got down the wing and he looked offside but the linesman didn't put his flag up, nothing came of the attack but England kept possession. I asked why are they not bringing it back as they are gaining an advantage but he said they are told not to flag and offside only gets checked if there has been a goal. If there is a break in play then they put their flag up but it seems they don't if nothing comes from the play. There were a couple of English guys who also noticed this and seemed confused as to why they were allowed to keep possession despite looking to be offside.

Also the fact play can keep going when a clearly offside player is through on goal and goalkeepers, defenders and attackers keep playing when there is no reason too is at some point going to lead to an incident/tackle where someone comes out injured. Seems utterly bizarre to me.

 

22 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

I noticed that last night as well and the same thought occurred to me. If they aren’t flagging then you are getting away with being offside unless you score from it.

I don’t agree with the second point though. There’s nothing about not flagging that somehow makes things more dangerous for players, it’s simply not stopping the game. Injuries and things happen but the lack of a flag isn’t the cause and we don’t need to exaggerate stuff like that to make the point that they should flag.

 

Was this the first game of football either of you had watched in the past 5 years?

[Jambomo]

8 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said:

 

 

Was this the first game of football either of you had watched in the past 5 years?

I clearly don’t pay enough attention at games. For some reason it just never really caught my attention before. 

[Jives Miguel]

20 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

I clearly don’t pay enough attention at games. For some reason it just never really caught my attention before. 

 

This is how its been in TV games since VAR was brought in. They'll only raise the flag when the phase of play ends.

 

Can understand why its annoying for people, but there would be utter carnage if they flagged someone off who was actually on and a goal was disallowed because of it. Better to be safe than sorry I think.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Jives Miguel

[craigkillie]

2 hours ago, ahemps said:

I was watching the game at work last night and one of the guys happened to be a referee so he gave us good insight. Linesman don't flag for offside now even when it is glaringly obvious. There were a few occasions when an England player got down the wing and he looked offside but the linesman didn't put his flag up, nothing came of the attack but England kept possession. I asked why are they not bringing it back as they are gaining an advantage but he said they are told not to flag and offside only gets checked if there has been a goal. If there is a break in play then they put their flag up but it seems they don't if nothing comes from the play. There were a couple of English guys who also noticed this and seemed confused as to why they were allowed to keep possession despite looking to be offside.

In those cases, it is likely that the assistant didn't think the player was offside. Otherwise, if the attack started to fizzle out (eg a ball back across the halfway line), they would flag. There was one like that in the first half which stood out to me, but I think the decision was borderline so the assistant obviously thought he was onside.

[Stag Nation]

3 hours ago, ahemps said:

Also the fact play can keep going when a clearly offside player is through on goal and goalkeepers, defenders and attackers keep playing when there is no reason too 

There’s a very good reason - the whistle hasn’t gone. The referee makes these decisions, not the linesman or the players.

[ahemps]

2 hours ago, Jives Miguel said:

Was this the first game of football either of you had watched in the past 5 years?

I have never noticed it before, it was after the 2nd or 3rd time I thought are they getting away with offside because the game hasn't stopped???

[highlandmac]

19 hours ago, Jives Miguel said:

 

This is how its been in TV games since VAR was brought in. They'll only raise the flag when the phase of play ends.

 

Can understand why its annoying for people, but there would be utter carnage if they flagged someone off who was actually on and a goal was disallowed because of it. Better to be safe than sorry I think.

Makes me glad that the football I watch is non VAR in the main

[Donathan]

Here’s an example of why they delay the flag. Without the delayed flag, the game would be stopped immediately as the ball was received by Joelinton, which would have robbed him of the opportunity to go round the keeper and score.

 

Now with the delay, the attacking phase of play is allowed to play out. If the ball went out for a corner, the flag would go up so that West Ham get the ball back. If it went out for a goal kick or harmlessly back to the keeper they’ll just let it go.

 

But the key point is that Joelinton scored. Either a goal (as in this case), or a potential penalty incident that happens subsequently, or even a possible red card foul by the last man defender, the process now allows them to go back and check the APP. Since the lineman has flagged for offside, they’d then need to go to VAR and prove that it was actually onside like it was in this case.

 

In games without VAR in operation the delayed flag is not necessary. 

 

[Albertlegend]

If a player goes through on goal and get wiped out by the keeper, then assistant puts flag up, can keeper still be sent off if its a terrible challenge! 

[craigkillie]

But they wouldn't get a penalty?

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, Albertlegend said:

If a player goes through on goal and get wiped out by the keeper, then assistant puts flag up, can keeper still be sent off if its a terrible challenge! 

Yes.  Serious foul play still applies there. But if it was just DOGO then he’d not be sent off