2. CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE HUMAN SIGHT DURING OFFSIDE

Getting the Angles Right:               Take me to the top of this page

The following two common offside scenarios can be difficult for an Assistant Referee to assess:

(a) When the last but one defender is very close to the Assistant Referee. To help the Assistant Referee in making a judgement (and if there is enough space to do so) he should move back a few paces from the touchline. This will give a greater range of vision for making decisions across the field of play.

(b) When the distance between the last but one defender and the most advanced attacker across the field of play is a long distance (30-50 meters). On these occasions, it is very important that the Assistant Referee places himself EXACTLY in line with the last but one defender. Even a very small deviation at this stage makes it difficult to make an estimation of the relative position of the players involved. The further away an Assistant Referee is away from this ideal 'in-line' position, the more difficult it will be to make a correct call when judging offside.

The sensitivity of the human eye to colours.

• The human eye is more sensitive to colours in the middle of the visible spectrum (colours yellow-greenish and orange) than those on the edges of the spectrum (colours red and blue).
• Also, the eye reacts differently during various levels of illumination. (For example, in bright sunlight or on a dull cloudy day). During periods of reduced illumination, the maxim eye sensitiveness is for colours in the blue, violet domain.

This information can be used by Referees to:

i) Increase their attention when officiating in different levels of light intensity, depending on the colour of the players' shirts (For example, if a team is wearing red, and the light is poor, the Referee should increase his levels of attention.)

ii) In some countries (and when the team colours of the players' shirts allow) - during the day - the Referee and the Assistant Referees could wear yellow shirts. An example of this can be seen in Italy, where during the day they wear yellow-greenish or orange colours. And at night in artificial light, and reduced illumination, the colour is blue.

iii) In situations where the Referee has a say in what colour a team wears - he should consideration the above effects of colour and illumination before choosing the colour of the players' shirts.

(iv) Flags that are yellow or orange can be seen better by the Referee.

The following popular acrostic will help you remember the orders of colours of the light spectrum,

"Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain"

Red  Orange  Yellow  Green  Blue  Indigo  Violet

Note:  'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain' is what is known in England as an 'Acrostic'

This is a well known method of remembering the colours of the spectrum, and is based on a poem about Richard the Third (a King of England many years ago)
Acrostics are like acronyms, except they are code sentences instead of code words. The first letter of each of the words in the code sentence stands for the first letter of each of the words you want to remember. The following is an example of the popular acrostic used here in England to help people remember the colours of the spectrum:

"Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain"
R(RED)ichard O(ORANGE)f Y(YELLOW)ork G(GREEN)ave B(BLUE)attle I(INDIGO)n V(VIOLET)ain.

To understand this, let us consider 2 opposing players in the yellow team’s half.

• Red attacking player No. 7, and Yellow defending player No. 2 are both in line with each other across the field of play at respective starting positions 7a and 2a (see diagram below).
• Both players are capable of running in opposite directions at 50 meters per 6.2 seconds.
• The Assistant Referee on the touchline is also in line with these two players, and is waiting for the sound of the ball being kicked to reach him before making an offside judgement.
• The yellow defending player No. 2, is the second last defender. The only other defending player in the yellow team half is the yellow team goalkeeper No. 1
• Attacking player No. 6 who is nearer to the halfway line, kicks the ball towards his team-mate (attacking player No. 7).
• At the precise moment when the attacking player No. 6 kicks the ball, the attacking player No. 7, and the defending player No. 2 are both in line with each other at positions 7a and 2a. Therefore, the attacking player No. 7 is not in an offside position because he is level with the second last defender No. 2.
• By the time (t) that the sound of the ball being kicked has travelled at the speed of sound (330 meters per second) from attacking player No. 6 to the Assistant Referee’s ear - the Red attacking player No. 7, and Yellow defending player No. 2 will have run in opposite directions and are now Distance (d) away from each other at new positions 7b and 2b, when the Assistant Referee hears the sound of the ball being kicked.
• When the Assistant Referee actually hears the sound of the ball being kicked, he looks across the field of play and raises his flag to indicate that the attacking player who has run to position 7b, should be penalised for being offside because he was nearer to his opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.
• This is a wrong decision by the Assistant Referee, because at the precise moment when the attacking player kicks the ball, the attacking player No. 7, and the defending player No. 2 were both in line with each other at positions 7a and 2a.

Therefore, Assistant Referees should not rely only on the sound of the ball being kicked when making an offside judgement, because there will always be a delay in time, before the sound of the kick reaches the Assistant Referees ear. The further the distance (D) of the kicking player is from the Assistant Referee, the longer it will take for the sound to travel to him, and the further the distance (d) will be between the opposing players No. 7 and No 2.

For example, if the kicking player is (D) 50 meters away from the Assistant Referee, it will take (t) 0.1515 seconds for the sound of the kick to reach the Assistant Referee's ear.

In this time, players No. 7 and No. 2 who are running in opposite directions, will be (d) 2.444 meters apart.

Assistant Referees should therefore not solely rely on the sound of the ball being kicked as a measure for judging offside. If they do, the chances are that the attacking player will be wrongly penalised. Mistakes in judgement will increase, the nearer the two main opposing players are to each other (or when they are originally level with each other). This is further compounded when there is loud background noise such as crowds cheering.

Using sound to make a decision is only viable if the distance between the kicker and the Assistant Referee is less than 10 metres and there is no distracting background noise.

The Referee looks behind him, and sees a player fall down onto the ground. The player screams out that an opponent has struck him on the head.

What action should the Referee take?

Law 6 states that it is the duty of the Assistant Referees (subject of the decision of the Referee) to indicate when a misconduct or any other incident has occurred out of the view of the Referee. The Fourth Official also has a duty to indicate to the Referee when violent conduct occurs out of the view of the Referee.

The Referee should therefore, look towards his nearest Assistant Referee, then towards the other Assistant Referee, and lastly (if one is in attendance) the Fourth Official. If the Referee does not receive any indication from his colleagues that an offence has occurred, and the player who is lying on the floor does not have a serious injury, the Referee should allow play to continue.

On these occasions when the Referee does not get a confirmation signal from his colleagues that an incident has occurred, there is no point in discussing this with his Assistant Referee - just to hear "nothing". This would only serve to antagonise the players even further, and weaken the unity of the match officials' team.

If the Referee receives an indication from one of his colleagues that an offence has occurred, the Referee should stop play and move quickly towards his colleague to discus the incident, and to decide on any appropriate punishment.

Whilst they are conversing, they should stand closely together, facing towards the field of play. Any nearby players should be ushered away by the Referee.

They should discuss the following points:

- What happened? (For example: Red player No. 5, thumped green player No. 7 in the face);

- The place where the incident occurred;

- If the ball was in play or was not in play;

- Any further misconduct by other players.

If the Referee clearly witnessed the incident, there is no need for him to discuss this with his Assistant Referee. The Referee should be 'big enough' to make the decision himself, without making it look as though he was 'charging' the Assistant Referee to make the decision on his behalf. The fine details of the incident (whether the player used an elbow or a fist) can be discussed in the changing rooms later.