Question Number: 22753

Law 11 - Offside 1/24/2010

RE: Select, High School, Rec... High School

Johnny the Ref of Brandon, MS USA asks...

LAW 11 Offsides:

I am sure I made the correct call. But I wanted to ask here, just to verify myself. Here is the scenario:

I am the AR on this play.

Player 1-Blue is in an offside position at about three yards in the goal area. During a play in the penalty area, Player 2-Blue, a couple of defenders and the keeper are battling for the ball. The ball is struck by Player 2-Blue and Player 1-Blue attempts to make a play on the ball, but misses. Ball goes into the goal. I called the offside because even though he did not touch the ball, he was in the offside position, was a distraction to the keeper and made an attempt to play the ball.

Accordingly, the center came over to me, asked me about my call and awarded the indirect free kick for the offside.

Was the correct call made.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

A player in offside position (PIOP) is offside when interfering with an opponent. 'Interfering with an opponent' means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent. The USSF Advice To Referee notes that this can also include active physical or verbal distraction of the goalkeeper by an opponent as well as blocking the view of the goalkeeper.

The assistant referee should not simply assume that the presence of the player in offside position has confused the keeper. But, when the PIOP is in the zone of active play and does something that affects the keeper's ability to see or play the ball, the flag properly goes up.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Johnny
This is one of the most difficult questions to answer in Law 11.
The answer to this lies in the question 'Did the player in the offside position interfere with an opponent?' That clearly is a matter of opinion.
In a recent high profile game involving Manchester United and Chelsea an offside incident similar to the question you described happened. In that case the officials decided to allow the goal as the movement by the player in the offside position to play the ball, in their opinion, did not interfere with an opponent nor the goalkeeper and it did not effect subsequent play. You can view it here
http://videos.sapo.pt/HeyLno5KyOreyr4tGlw8

So it has to be more than an attempt to play the ball. If the goalkeeper moved the 'wrong' way or dived in the assumption that the player in an offside player would make contact with the ball, which did not happen, then that is a distraction and it is offside.
In your case if you decided it was a distraction then that's all that counts. Before 2005 you would have definitely have made the correct call. With the current law another ref on another day might allow the goal due his interpretation of interfering with an opponent

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Answer: don't know if you were right or not. It is not an offside offense to attempt to play the ball. If the Blue player was in an offside position when the ball was played by a Blue teammate, he MUST make contact with the ball to be considered having interfered with play. So your assumption that making a play for the ball is an offense is incorrect. In 2009 USSF came out with an official Memo that plainly stated contact must be made with the ball for an offside positioned player to have interfered with play.

However, you also say the offside positioned player was a 'distraction' to the goalkeeper. An offside positioned player should not be considered to distract the goalkeeper merely by being in an offside position, which is not an offense. But, if, in your opinion, he did interfere with the keeper's ability to play the ball or his motion distracted or deceived the keeper, then he has interfered with an opponent and is guilty of an offside infraction.