Looking for clarification on a ruling regarding players leaving the pitch without permission?

Our striker chased back to the touchline to make a tackle but pulled his hamstring in the process. We broke up the field but lost possesion, in the meantime our striker left the field without permission for treatment. The other team then lumped the ball forward to a player who was approx 10 yards offside which resulted in most players stopping. The ball was then squared to another striker (who was also offside from the original pass) who then scored. The referee allowed the goal as he said the player left the field without permission therefore he was deemed active from the point he crossed the side of the pitch which played everyone onside. he also booked the striker for his troubles!

The reason I'm asking is that after the game the referee changed his version of events (did he feel he had just invented a new rule and needed to change his story?) to say the striker was just crossing the line when the pass was played. In truth the player had been off the pitch for a good 5 seconds before so this was untrue and wasn't even debateable.

Just wondering if the referee was correct in the first place, although there can be no defence for changing his explanation?

The referee is correct I'm afraid. It's not covered by the wording of the actual offside law but this is how FIFA have decided it should be interpreted:

Any defending player leaving the field of play for any reason without the
referee’s permission shall be considered to be on his own goal line or touch line
for the purposes of offside until the next stoppage in play. If the player leaves
the field of play deliberately, he must be cautioned when the ball is next out of
play.

Thanks for the explanation, sounds like the referee got the initial decision absolutely correct although perhaps a bit harsh booking our player who was clearly injured and was immediately substituted.

It's a pity the referee didn't have 100% confidence ,in what was an excellent decision, and felt the need to change his explanation to something clearly untrue. I guess that's why players get so frustrated with officials.

I agree Sonic his initial decision was spot on so no need to try and cover it another way. To be fair though it's a very difficult one to get right as it won't happen often, never happened to me yet in 4 years of amateur football.

AOM Ref :- Thanks for that reasoning, I have to admit I wouldn't have interpreted it that way myself but that's why I'm not a ref lol. While under the circumstances it seems a bit harsh I can see why this came about. Otherwise you could play folk offside by stepping off the pitch.

we had a game where the opposition keeper went in the huff with his team, removed and threw away his jersey so they played with 10 men and had to put a defender in goals. at half time he had calmed down and returned to goals, but the ref gave him a yellow for leaving the field without permission lol.
it was a laugh but the boy was a twat..