Question Number: 23130

Law 11 - Offside 4/16/2010

RE: Competitive over 40 mens league Adult

David Larew of Lake Stevens , Wa USA asks...

Our goalie claimed obstruction by their defender who stood in front and blocked his view of a free kick. I was in the wall and turned to see our goalie dive for the ball after it was deflected in. It appeared to me that the blocker a 6'5' 300 lber was alone without our defender marking him.
1. Was he offside? Under Rule 11, I'd say yes.
2. Is blocking off a goalie considered to be obstruction? I saw something about 'sportsman like conduct.' Does that exist?

btw, the ref gave us a PK earlier so I'm guessing he thought it was fair play for the PK...

Thanks,
David
I looked but didn't find an answer here.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi David
This is a judgement call in Law 11. If the attacker is standing in an offside position and he interferes with a goalkeeper's line of vision then that is offside.
Quote from Law 11 "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" .
Now this is always a difficult call to assess whether the player obstructed the line of vision as it depends on how close the player is to the goalkeeper. Clearly as he moves closer to the GK the line of vision is impaired. That is the judgement call. The other important part is that the GK will have his view of the FK impaired in other ways such as the defensive wall etc. You mention a deflection in the wall. Had that a bearing on the direction of the ball towards the player in the offside position and perhaps the dive by the GK showed that he had in fact seen the ball all the way and it was the deflection that caused the goal rather than an obscured view. My guess that is what the referee interpreted and therefore it was not offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

If an attacker is in offside position during the taking of a free kick, and obstructs the keeper's ability to see or play the ball, the attacker is guilty of an offside infringement under Law 12 for interfering with an opponent.

Usually, on these set plays, however, the attacker is not in offside position because there is another defender at one of the posts. Sometimes the referee judges from the nature of the shot, that the offside attacker did not interfere with play (example: attacker to the right of the keeper, but the shot goes into the upper corner to the left of the keeper).

An onside attacker is not guilty of impeding (formerly known as obstruction) under law 12 so long as the attacker remains still. Impeding requires 'movement' that interferes with the opponent's ablility (as well as an attacker not within playing distance of ball). When the attacker is engaged in a shadow dance with the keeper, the strategy it usually is designed to interfere with the keeper, and usually infringes law 12. The referee must judge whether the attacker is trying to make a play on the ball or is simply making a play on the keeper.