Advantage

ADVANTAGE

They say that the best referee is the one that you don't know is there. While, yes, there are occasionally controversial decisions to be made that will inevitably attract attention to the referee, for the most part you can know a referee has done well when at the end of the game you're yelling more at your team for playing terribly (if you're a Liverpool fan you know what I'm talking about) than at the referee.

Nothing is more frustrating than watching or playing a game that is interrupted every 30 seconds by the whistle. To avoid interrupting play and to be able to spend more time enjoying the beautiful game, "advantage" was created.  According to FIFA, "The referee allows play to continue when the team against which an offence has been committed will benefit from such an advantage and penalises the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time."

In simpler terms: If team A commits a foul against team B, but team B nonetheless has an advantage (such as a goal scoring opportunity or an immediate opportunity to advance an attack) then the referee signals advantage and the play continues. The advantage call is one that is made completely at the referees discretion, and therefore there is no solid rule as to when it must be used. When to call advantage will vary widely with the situation. Below I've listed a series of things a referee might consider when deciding whether or not to give a team advantage:

• The amount of time it takes after the offence for the advantageous play to form.
• The strength of the advantage vs the severity of the offence. 
• The field position where offence occurs (the closer to the opponents' goal, the stronger the advantage).
• The atmosphere of the match.
• The chances of a dangerous attack or goal scoring opportunity.

Let's look quickly at an example to show how the above circumstances might change the referees decision. A player from Team A is in Team B's penalty area and is about to take a shot but gets fouled. The ball immediately spills loose and another player from Team A receives the ball and takes a shot. The referee to this point has allowed play to continue because he sees that Team A has an immediate chance to score. Now, however, he has to weigh the two options. If the player's shot goes in, a goal will be awarded without the need of a penalty kick. If the player misses the shot, the referee will most likely choose to penalize Team B for the foul, and award Team A with a penalty kick. In other words the advantage should result in an opportunity greater than the alternative free kick. 

The referee should only wait as long as a few seconds to decide if there was significant advantage received. If he doesn't feel there will be significant advantage then he penalizes the team that committed the offence and a free kick is taken. If the offence committed warrants expulsion (red card) or a caution (yellow card) but the referee feels there is strong enough advantage, he should allow play to continue and issue the card to the offending player when the ball next goes out of play. 

As you can see in the picture above, to signal advantage the referee raises his arms with his palms upwards and his body facing the direction of play. He might yell something like "Play on!" to alert the players to continue play. 

Here are some real-life (ok this is from FIFA 2012 but it gets the idea across) moments in which advantage has been applied:

The referee allows advantage, but gives a red card after the ball goes out of play. 

In this video the referee made an obvious mistake by not allowing for the advantage. After the initial offence the team still received the ball and a goal followed, but the referee had already called, or was in the process of calling it back. 

Now that I've bored you with advantage, laugh at this ref who obviously doesn't understand what it means to not be the center of attention:

Offside

Alright, I figured I'd start with the big one. The offside rule is probably one of the most widely-misunderstood rules on the soccer pitch (yup, there I go mixing American and English terms). Many people find it confusing, and worry they won't be able to understand it. This post will hopefully break it down step by step for you so that you can walk away hopefully feeling like an offside pro.

The first thing that I want to make very clear is this: The word is OFFSIDE not OFFSIDES. As a referee every time I heard a parent or player scream "Offsides ref, they were offsides!!!" I wanted to turn to them and say "1. The word is offside. 2. No they weren't and 3. Leave the pitch."
If you want to look like a fool and let everyone know how ignorant you are, keep saying "offsides" :)

Okay, let's begin.

First things first. Memorize the following sentence: "An offside call is made only when a player is in an offside position and is involved in active play." Did you get that? That's vital to understanding the offside rule!

Let's look at it another way:

OFFSIDE POSITION + INVOLVED IN ACTIVE PLAY = OFFSIDE OFFENSE

To drive the point home:

Offside offense:
1.Player in offside position.
2.Player involved in active play.

K I think we got it.

OFFSIDE POSITION

We're gonna take a solid look at what it means to be in an offside position. According to FIFA a player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second to last defender.

Here's a graphic to make a littler more sense of that:

"Second to last defender" includes the goalie, so in most cases the second to last defender is actually the last of the back four defenders. Above, I've circled the goalie and placed a number one by him, as he's the last defender. I've also circled the defender closest to him, because he's the second to last defender. The red line I've drawn represents an imaginary line showing the limit between an offside position and an onside position. Any red player in our example that ventures onto the left side of that line is in an offside position, because they're closer to the opponents' goal line than than both the ball and the second to last defender. 

Let's look at a few more examples, and you try and determine if the player is in an offside position:

The red player in the image above is most definitely in an offside position, because they are on the left side of the red line, or in other words, are closer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second to last defender.

The player in this image is NOT in an offside position because, even though he is closer to the goal line than the second to last defender, he is not closer to the opponents' goal line than the ball. Our imaginary offside line will move with the ball until it reaches the second to last defender, in which case the line stays with that defender.

One last thing to note is that the attacking player is allowed to be even with the second to last defender or the ball. They are only in an offside position once they actually cross that imaginary line. In many instances it is a very close call, as the players seem to be even with each other but not quite. As a referee I was told that if I wasn't 100% sure, that I was to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt.

Note: When the Assistant Referee looks across that imaginary line to watch for offside, he looks to see what part of the attacking player's body is offside. For example, if the player is even with the second to last defender, but his arm is crossing that imaginary line, he deems the player to not be in an offside position. The rule of thumb is that the player is in an offside position if any part of his body with which he can legally play the ball is across the imaginary line.

Note: There are a few instances in which a player can cross that imaginary line and not be in an offside position. They are the following: 1. Goal Kick 2. Throw in 3. Corner Kick 4. When the player is on their own half of the field.

Note: It's extremely important to note that the offside position is determined ONLY WHEN THE PLAYER'S TEAMMATE TOUCHES OR PASSES THE BALL TO HIM.  The moment the ball leaves the teammate's foot is the moment in which the Assistant Referee looks down the imaginary line to make sure the player is not in an offside position. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHEN THE BALL IS RECEIVED BY THE PLAYER. It would be unfair for a player to be penalized for being faster than his opponents. The offside rule is in place to ensure that players can't gain an unfair advantage. As soon as the ball is passed, the player can run as far ahead as he wants to receive the ball.

So far so simple right? The attacking team just has to make sure that they are staying behind/even with either the ball or the second to last defender, whichever is closest to their opponents' goal line.

Okay so now we've established what it means to be in an offside position, but remember that that in and of itself does not warrant an offside call to be made. The player also has to be involved in active play. Let's establish what that means.

INVOLVED IN ACTIVE PLAY

This part is simpler to explain, as it's mostly self explanatory. Being involved in active play can mean a few different things. Here is a list of things that might make a player involved in active play:

• He receives and plays the ball
• He distracts or impedes an opponent
• He receives an unfair advantage from being in the offside position

If a player receives the ball while in an offside position, it is considered an offside offense. Sometimes a player is in an offside position and the ball is kicked ahead of him. Referees are told to wait to make the offside call until the player actually touches the ball or makes a serious play for it. If the ball, for example, goes to the opposing team's goalkeeper, then the referee allows play to continue. This decreases the amount of time wasted taking free kicks (nobody wants to hear the stupid ref's whistle all the time).

An example of distracting or impeding an opponent could be a player in an offside position that blocks the vision of the goalkeeper. Even if the player that takes the shot is onside, if an offside player blocks the keeper's vision it is an offside offense.

Lastly, an example of receiving unfair advantage might be if a player in an onside position takes a shot and it rebounds off the crossbar, where an offside player is waiting to retrieve it. This seems like an unlikely occurrence, but I guarantee that with thousands of games being played every day... this stuff does occur.

OFFSIDE SANCTION

When a player is deemed to have committed an offside offense, an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team (I'll cover the difference between direct and indirect kicks in another post). The free kick should be awarded where the ball crossed the imaginary line. Doesn't matter where the player received the ball, or where the teammate kicked it from.

Congratulations! You should be an offside champ now. To get in some practice I'll post some videos of different offside calls. As you watch them try to discern why or why not the player was considered to have committed an offside offense. If you are confused about the call, review the material I've posted above and re-watch the video.

Both videos so far have been incorrect calls by the referees. The first video should have been called offside and wasn't, the second shouldn't have been called offside but was.

This one's in a different language, but you get the idea. It shows a few different scenarios as well that could have prevented the player from being offside.

K I'm showing the video below just cuz I love Thierry Henry and am an Arsenal fan till I die. Also, the goal is scored against Manchester United, which is guaranteed to make me smile even on the worst of days :)

Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions!


--Diagrams come from www.sidelinesoccer.com/interactive-sports-diagrams

A Passion For The Rules (And A Bit About Me?)

"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."

--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

That quote right there is the reason that as a football referee I initially feared stepping on to the pitch. That fear was present for two reasons: the first was that at the age of 12 perhaps I questioned my own comprehensive knowledge of the rules, and the second and most pressing reason being that I knew that those present, those dreaded fans, parents, and even players knew less than I did.  

Nothing has bothered me more throughout the years as a referee, player, and fan, than the constant ignorant yelling, arguing, and bickering of onlookers who, frankly, have no idea what they're talking about. Perhaps you're one of them? Perhaps you're new to football and want to know the rules? Maybe you've been a soccer fan for years but there's just a few things you're not sure about? Whatever the case is, I love you. I love you because you want to learn and you want to know. 

This blog is intended to clarify and explain in an extremely simple yet thorough way some of the more complicated rules of soccer. Also, let's have a little fun, eh?

A few things to understand before you really get into it:

1. My humor is dry and blunt, don't be offended. I love everyone who loves the sport and wants to learn about it (unless you claim to be a Manchester United fan, in which case feel free to close this blog, and go drink some battery acid or something). <--- That humor right there is what I'm talking about :) 

2. I'm American. So sue me. You're gonna see me use words familiar to the sport from both American and English cultures. Football, soccer. Field, pitch. They all mean the same thing. Let's unify the world's most popular and beautiful sport by not arguing over stupid words, cool?

3. Comments are enabled. Which means I want to hear from you. You have a question or a rule you want me to write about? Let me know! You like my blog and want to leave positive feedback? I won't complain. You think I'm a blundering fool, and that I should stop wasting my time go ahead and say it (though I probably won't listen). 

4. I'm not an expert and I'm not a professional. At anything, really. I've played soccer my whole life, I refereed youth soccer for 8 years(during which time I strove to gain a solid knowledge of the rules), and I've probably spent 1000 hours in front of the TV watching games. Those are my credentials, take them or leave them!

Happy Reading!