Question Number: 22723

Law 11 - Offside 1/14/2010

RE: Adult

kevin dunn of South Pasadena, california USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 22708

thank you for the thoughtful and insightful responses to my question(post 22708). I have a much better understanding of 'interfering with play or interfering with an opponent or gaining an advantage by being in that position'.
I was previously thinking that if the attacker in the offside position wasn't there his teammate wouldn't have played the ball to him in the first place and the ball wouldn't have deflected off the defender for a throw in, however I now understand that 'gaining an advantage by being in that position' only applies to a narrow set of circumstance ie. ball off the goalpost, keeper, or defender. Is my understanding accurate?
Applying the changes in law 11 that have been made since 2005 to the own goal by the US player in the World Cup example the AR would not be able to call offside. Is that correct?
Thank you in advance, I appreciate the instruction.
Kev

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kevin
There is an excellent resource at this link on Law 11
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/lawsofthegame.html
In addition there is teaching material on law 11 at
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_11_offside_en_47383.pdf
You are correct with your comment about gaining an advantage by being in that position. However the Ref/AR must also consider 'interfering with an opponent' when considering this offside situation as that does not require the player in offside position to touch the ball. As you know if the player in the offside position distracts or deceives or prevent the defender from playing the ball that is also offside and that could happen in your scenario, where the forward close enough to do that. In your opinion he did not interfere with play (touch the ball), interfere with an opponent (no distraction/deception and did not prevent the opponent playing the ball) nor did he gain an advantage by being in that position (touch the ball that was deflected/rebounded off an opponent) so it cannot be offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Own goals will present for the referee the question did the player in offside position interfere with an opponent? To answer the question, the referee must factor the proximity of the attacker to the zone of play, and the relative skills of the players. When in doubt, the flag should stay down.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Are you taking about the Confederation cup? Italy versus USA? That was designated as offside, no goal! Many still disagree that the goal should have counted!

As to thinking, remember being offside positioned is simply not an infraction. Thus when the team-mate plays the ball down along the touchline only thing that has occurred is that offside player is restricted from active participation! The offside player would have to close down the defender and do something to affect the defending opponent trying to intercept the ball.

IF in your opinion there WAS interference prior to the ball going out of play similar as if an own goal was to be scored then the indfk for the infraction has occurred and up goes the flag.

If there is no obvious interference or doubt or simply discount the position entirely and we have a throw in or corner or goal depending on the outcome!

An offside player 10 yards down field waiting or running away is not the same as an offside player breathing down your neck running towards you trying to contest for ball possession. Even offside players a few feet away can show non involvement by taking a knee, hands up, walking away or making no obvious effort. Yet if they happen to be in a wrong position and block or impede an opponent, even accidently, doing nothing but standing there, offside criteria could be met!

If the defender was observant he would simply let the ball continue to the offside attacker and get the indfk out.
Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 22746