Something you don't see often

[Andy A]

Well I ended up in a bit of a predicament this afternoon.

Blues v Reds, Blues are much better than reds and are 3 goals up during the first half.

In the 40th minute Blues launch a quick counter attack so I am rushing to keep up with play, from a wide position the winger centres the ball for the striker to tap in, CAR raises flag for offside, so I blow for offside.

Now here is where it gets tricky. My gut instinct is that he was offside but as I said I didn't have a great view as I was rushing upfield. 2 Red centre backs then declare that red attacker was behind them (thus being onside) when ball was played, also the keeper chirps in saying he was onside. When I recovered from the shock of a team agreeing to conceding a goal I went over to the CAR.

I asked him what he saw, and he swore blind he was offside. I explained that 3 of his team mates were saying he was onside so it would be hard for me to give an offside decision. He accepted it rather graciously but still maintained he was offside. I point to the centre spot and give the goal.

Blues went on to win 5-0 comfortably.

Have any of you guys been in this situation before? If so, how did you react?

It's been bothering me that I shouldn't have over ruled the CAR.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

. I explained that 3 of his team mates were saying he was onside so it would be hard for me to give an offside decision. He accepted it rather graciously but still maintained he was offside. I point to the centre spot and give the goal.

.

I appreciate your approach and you're left in a situation where you're uncertain either way, and the team is happy to concede a goal.

From what you're saying - is the CAR on the defending team here? How come you don't put the attacking CAR there?

 

[ref craig]

My best tip for you there is give the offside you never change your decision concerning offside

 

[markref]

From what you're saying - is the CAR on the defending team here? How come you don't put the attacking CAR there?

It's strange. I don't use CARs but I've done this in the past and the players look at you as though you're mad! They seem to assume
a) you have to use them
b) they must be on their own defense

 

[GraemeS]

I appreciate your approach and you're left in a situation where you're uncertain either way, and the team is happy to concede a goal.

From what you're saying - is the CAR on the defending team here? How come you don't put the attacking CAR there?

I always put CAR's on their defence. I personally think that in terms of "correctness", it's easier to spot and overrule a CAR who is a little generous with a flag than it is to give an offside when a CAR hasn't raised his flag.

Also, there's a strong match control argument for it too. If you have a team's CAR on his defence and he doesn't raise his flag, the argument is always between them and their teammate - which you can usually leave to them to sort out. If the defence is accusing the opposing team's CAR of cheating, you've got 4 or 5 players shouting at one guy and you may have to get involved, wheras if the attacker is annoyed with an opposing CAR, you only have a 1-on-1 argument to intervene in.

 

[OIREF!]

It's a very unusual situation and one that had never happened to me. If the CAR gave offside and your instinct was also offside then I'd stick with that decision.

 

[A Freethinker]

Hate CARs had one on Saturday and to say he was blatant in his cheating was an understatement had to ask him to give the flag to someone else and he was only giving ball over the line

 

[Andy A]

Thanks for the advice guys, so the general consensus is I should have stuck with my decision to disallow it, that must be why it's been niggling in the back of my mind since it happened.

I will further explain why I gave the goal. I have done this team a few times this season and that CAR always comes on at the start of the second half (5 minutes away), so I didn't have to worry about shooting his credibility.

Also I felt there would be a match control issue, I know the forward who scored is a bit of a hot head and am 80% sure he would have used the 2 C words towards the CAR and then I would have to have binned him.

Also bear in mind this CAR will be on the field for the second half, and would have been a big target for some retribution.

So there's why I leaned towards giving the goal, maybe not right but I hope you can understand why I did so.

 

[richard ramjane]

not quite in the same league but had players on a couple of occasions overrule their own CARs for things like throw ins / corners... over rules ive gone with.
I have had in a 5 a side match a situation where ive awarded a penalty, only for the defending team to tell me the ball had gone out of play on the goal line in the build up. I wasnt in a position to see it clearly, so i asked the accused player to take the penalty. He tapped it back to the keeper. TBH i dont know why he didnt just say it went out in the first place.

 

[Andy A]

I appreciate your approach and you're left in a situation where you're uncertain either way, and the team is happy to concede a goal.

From what you're saying - is the CAR on the defending team here? How come you don't put the attacking CAR there?

In England and certainly in my area, defending teams always have their CAR on their own backline. This is due to the reasons stated in @GraemeS post in this thread.

 

[SurreySuperRef]

Is the CAR in a better position than you to judge? If yes, then you must go with him, even if he is slightly out of position, he would still have a better view than you.

Has he missed something, such as the ball rebounding off two opponents, or has he made mistake such as offside from a goal kick/throw in/corner? If yes, you should over rule him if you are 100% certain.

You can't do much except take his word for it unless you are sure he is 100% wrong, it's always worth talking to your linesmen as well, but resolve the conflict quickly and make sure the conversation gets to the point.

If you suspect his decisions are incorrect, position yourself better if you can so you can see for yourself.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

In England and certainly in my area, defending teams always have their CAR on their own backline. This is due to the reasons stated in @GraemeS post in this thread.

Fair enough. I always say to stick to convention in your area.
I prefer the CAR to be attacking. Because it's much, much easier to overrule a 'non-flag' than it is to overrule a flag.

I couldn't criticise you whatever you do here. But I have - and I'm sure you have too - seen plenty of times where defenders will swear black and blue that the player I flagged was 5 yards onside when they weren't. So, just because they're arguing for something detrimental to them, doesn't mean they're correct. And you'd have no problem ignoring them if you were certain. When you're not certain though?

Normally though, I'd say that you don't overrule the CAR unless you're certain. But there's an inherent risk here with a defensive CAR wanting to disallow a goal. Though as you said, you thought it was offside anyway.