Question Number: 22717

Law 11 - Offside 1/11/2010

RE: Competitive High School

John Salemi of Ventura, CA USA asks...

Attacking team A has a player (A2) in an offside position in the penalty area directly in front of the goal. Player A1 plays the ball forward in the direction of A2. Defender B turns and with her back to her own goal jumps to head the ball out toward the half-way line but though she follows through with her head she makes contact but the ball continues toward her goal and is received by A2. B played the ball but obviously did not control it. Is A2 offside?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

In a nutshell - yes!

You mentioned 'control' - this is the critical factor. If B controlled the ball - say, made a pass with her head back to the keeper but forgetting the attacker was there (or the pass wasn't accurate), then A2 would be free to play the ball. As the defender has not controlled the ball, the offside scenario remains and A2 cannot legally play the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Salemi
Yes the scenario you describe if offside. A2 in this case met the offside condition of "gaining an advantage by being in that position" which means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in anoffside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.
The header in this case by Defender B would be considered as a rebound off an opponent.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Headers present a dilemma. Is it a controlled play which would reset offside position; or is it a deflection which would not? The age and skill level of the player is a factor to consider.

US Soccer addressed the issue in a 2009 Weekly 'lessons learned' from an MLS match where the header WAS considered to reset offside position.

"Because the heading defender (white jersey) was under no pressure from an opponent nor was he challenged by or interfered with by the offside positioned attacker or any other player who may have caused him to misplay or deflect the ball.

'In evaluating the situation, the question for the AR and the referee is whether or not the defender in the white jersey played the ball or did the ball rebound off him?

Controlled play, misplaying or poor execution of play by a player under no pressure from an opponent are different than the ball rebounding or deflecting. The concept of playing may differ slightly depending upon the age and skill level of the players involved."

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Absolutely A2 is guilty of offside; this is a clear gaining an advantage from a deflection!
Most headers are not a controlled possession one touch pass that resets offside criteria because they never establish a clear controlled possession by the opposition.
???Deflections by any opposing player do not affect the status of a player in the restricted offside position; the attacking team's player must be called offside if he or she becomes involved in play (as defined in Law 11).
Unsuccessfully "making a play" for the ball does not establish possession. Nor, for that matter, does successfully "making a play" for the ball if it then deflects to the player in the offside position who becomes involved in play. Note that there are differences here between "being involved in play," "playing the ball," and "making a play" for the ball. A rule: Being able to use the ball subsequent to contact equals possession; deflection is not possession!???


Almost all controlled possession headers that reset offside criteria are backward passes to the keeper because the defender knows he cannot use his feet and UNWISELY CHOOSES this deliberate action either unknowingly or forgetting there are offside attackers lollygagging in his penalty area.

I have seen even at grass roots a very deliberate controlled header with a full twist of the body and a snap of the head on a bouncing ball where the defender nodded the ball back to his keeper UNAWARE there was a late offside attacker in around the area who gratefully accepted the advantageous MISTAKE!

This is no different then a one time controlled pass with the foot where a defender does not look around fully to be aware of where the opponents are then it was an error in judgment and NOT a deflection off the defender! The ball was useful to be picked up by the keeper as it was passed via the successful header thus resets offside criteria!

One could look at the header in a similar way one might look at a parry by the keeper as to whether to accept the ball was controlled and thus possessed in the player does exactly what he intended, with the ball subsequently available to the team or the player in a useful manner

Was there was no reason to do what they did when there were far easier options available?
Like catch the ball for the keeper or easily contain and control the ball for the player?

Granted it is an OPINION as a fact of play but in my opinion if the defender is intercepting a through ball to an offside attacker by using his head as that is the only means he has to prevent such a situation one is less likely to consider any misdirection as only a mistake or poor skill or error in judgement and ANY offside opponent may NOT be free to take possession of these types of situations IF the referee or AR held the opinion the offside attacker HAD already interfered with the defender heading the ball by way of making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceived or distracted the defender!

If there is sufficient time to choose other options to play and control the ball one could be more inclined to not see a ball off the head as only a deflection when it is an obvious mistake or poor skill or error in judgement and an offside opponent is always free to take possession of these types of situations.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Tom Stagliano

Referee Salemi

There is a 'rule-of-thumb' which states: If you removed the opponent who is in an offside position from that position, would the defender do the same thing?

In this case, if the attacker in the offside position was not there, would the defender try to make that header? It is highly likely, that if the attacker was not there, the defender would allow the ball to play through to her goal keeper. The defender tried to make a desperation play in order to keep the ball from that attacker. Indeed, it is possible that the defender did not know that the attacker was in an offside position (not knowing where her defending team mates were) and only concentrated on a desperate attempt to play the ball away from the goal area.

Looking at the play in that manner, one easily sees that the attacker in the offside position influenced the play and gained an advantage. Therefore an offside infraction was committed.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If this happened in MLS or EPL or World Cup, I'd be more likely to agree with Ref Wickham and the USSF that control was established. Those players are that good, they don't make silly mistakes when they aren't being challenged for the ball. I suppose if it was an all-out dive at the ball, just barely managing to graze it, I'd call that a deflection. But otherwise it's a play, and offside considerations go away.

In any youth or amateur play, including high school, I'd give the defender the benefit of the doubt that, despite trying her best to play the ball, she only managed to deflect it. Offside considerations are not reset, and A2 is called for offside based on gaining an advantage (after the deflection) when she touched the ball.