Question Number: 23189

Law 11 - Offside 4/26/2010

RE: Adult

Dave Poston of Cumming, Georgia United States asks...

An offensive player that is in the offside position receives the ball on a throw in that touches both an offensive and defensive player but continues to the offensive player. Offsides or not?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Poston
The answer to that question depends on the manner of the touch from the defender.
If the last player to touch the ball before it continues to the offensive player in an offside position is the offensive player then it is definitely offside.
If the last person to touch the ball is the defender after the ball comes off the offensive player and the defender does exert any control over the ball such as a deflection, rebound etc then that is also offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The exception is for receiving a ball directly from a throw-in. Directly means that the ball did not touch a teammate of the player in offside position.

Once the ball touches a a teammate, the exception is over, and the player in offside position may not play the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hey Dave. Even down here in Georgia we need to drop the 's' off offside. On a throw-in, position matters not because there can be no offside offense if the ball is received directly from a throw-in. You say the ball touched an offensive player on the way. I assume you mean a teammate. At that moment, offside is reset and the throw-in becomes unimportant. At the moment the ball touched the teammate you have to judge if the offensive player in question is now in an offside position. If he is then he may not participate in play until offside resets again. You say the ball next touches an opponent before reaching the previously OSP player. Touching an opponent does not reset offside. You now have to decide if the opponent controlled the ball. If he did, offside resets and no offside. If not and the OSP player touches the ball, he has committed an offside offense by interfering with play.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The sequence of touches matters.

If it was only a defensive player that had touched the ball, no problem, no offside, until the teammate touched the ball after the defender and it goes on to the player in an OSP. (No 's' on that in this game, dear!)

This is because the offensive player who touches the ball after the throw-in has reset offside position. The player who was originally in an OSP does not change his position, because we take a snapshot of his position each time the ball is touched by a teammate. At the next touch after the throw-in, the original player in an OSP is still in an OSP (being closer to the goal line than the ball and the 2nd to last defender) and thus when he plays the ball last touched by his teammate (the touch by the defender is irrelevant) he is offside.

Now, if the sequence was offensive player touches ball, then defender touches ball, we still have an offside, because the defender's touch doesn't matter, but his teammate's did.

But, if the teammate touched it, then the defender controls and plays the ball but it goes to the original player in an OSP, no offside, since it came from a defending player in control and possession of the ball.

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

See Question: 27865